


I Never Thought You’d Be The One To Hold My Heart

by Chenford_Army_7A19



Category: The Rookie (TV 2018)
Genre: Car Accident, Dating, F/M, First Date, First Kiss, General Fluff and Chenford Cuteness, Major Character Injury, Road Trip, Trauma, minor character injury, relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-06
Updated: 2020-12-23
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:55:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 23,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27410806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chenford_Army_7A19/pseuds/Chenford_Army_7A19
Summary: Lucy has finally finished her 30-Day push and she’s officially a P2. The group goes out to celebrate, but after everyone leaves Tim and Lucy do something they never imagined they would and it leads to a whole lot more, including their first date (sort of!) and their first weekend away together!
Relationships: Tim Bradford & Lucy Chen, Tim Bradford/Lucy Chen
Comments: 20
Kudos: 115





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So...this is my first Fanfic that I’ve actually finished and been brave enough to actually post. I hope it’s not too bad and I hope you all enjoy it! I have the whole thing finished and there’s 14 chapters of various lengths. I’ll try to post them semi-regularly until they’ve all been posted! Enjoy!

**Chapter 1: The First Kiss**

_ “So...uh…I’m a P2 now! We’re both P2s!”  _ Lucy said, still in disbelief but absolutely thrilled nonetheless. 

She sat across the table from Tim. John, Jackson, Nyla, and Angela had left at least half an hour ago. The group had been out celebrating the end of the 30-day push and the rookies moving up in the department. 

Lucy had thought about switching seats, moving closer to him, they were the only ones at the table after all. But then she wouldn’t have an excuse for staring at him, and at the moment she didn’t want to take her eyes off him. His hair was almost exactly how he wore it at work, super soft with a subtle hint of styling gel. Lucy could only imagine how soft it was. His steely blue eyes kept glancing around the room, but she noticed how they always came back to look at her, and how they always lingered on her for a brief moment every time. 

  
  


_ “Congratulations Boot. You’re only going to hear me say this once, but you’re one of the few rookies I’ve trained that I actually liked. Ok. That’s a lie. You’re the ONLY rookie I’ve trained that I actually liked. I’m happy for you Chen, you’re passionate, you’re kind, and you’re a fighter. You’re going to be a hell of a P2. _ ” he told her “ _ And it’s all because you had me for a T.O!”  _ he smirked. 

Lucy just laughed and shook her head. 

Tim had wanted to be sitting in the seat right next to Lucy, the one Nolan had been sitting in earlier. He’d been kind of jealous that John had gotten to sit next to her (yes, the great Tim Bradford was jealous of the 40-year-old rookie), he knew how crazy that sounded, but he couldn’t help it. 

Looking across the table at her now, he couldn’t take his eyes off Lucy. Her hair fell in loose waves, the caramel highlights glistened in the dim light of the bar. He saw nothing but pure joy in her eyes. Her smile, which hadn’t fallen the entire night, was absolutely radiant. She was practically glowing with happiness. 

Lucy wasn’t sure how it had happened, but she was falling for Tim. And she was falling hard. 

Tim tried to shake it off.  _ Lucy probably doesn’t even feel the same way,  _ he thought to himself. But he couldn’t shake it. Not in the slightest. He was falling for Lucy, and he was falling hard. 

_ “So, I had absolutely nothing to do with me making it through my rookie year? It was all you?”  _ she grinned “ _ Because when I rode with you the first time I’m pretty sure you couldn’t have cared less if I made it to P2 or not. I think you were actually wanting me to wash out!”  _ she teased.

_ “No, of course I didn’t want you to wash out, Lucy. That was just part of the ‘Bradford Field Training Experience.’ It worked though, didn’t it Boot? Although, I gotta say, I didn’t expect you to be as...spirited...and stubborn as you were.”  _ he grinned

_ “Spirited and stubborn? What, exactly is that supposed to mean, Officer Bradford?”  _ she asked, half jokingly, half serious. 

_ “Relax Boot. I meant that in the nicest way possible. You may have been more spirited and stubborn than I expected, but because of that, you challenged me in ways I never knew possible. You were gutsy enough to call me out when I was being stupid. You saved me from myself, more than once and you made me a better person, Officer Chen. And believe me when I say, that’s not an easy task, because I, too, am stubborn, in case you hadn’t noticed.”  _

Lucy smiled even bigger, if that was even possible at this point. 

_ “You? Stubborn? No way! And for what it’s worth, you made me a better person too, not to mention a better cop. Also let’s not forget that you literally saved my life too. And you were there for me in the weeks and months after that. I don’t know how I would have gotten through all of that without you. Sure, I had Jackson and John, and Nyla and Angela and Grey, but, and I’ve never told anyone this, for months after my kidnapping, I only felt completely safe when I was with you. Actually, if I’m being honest, I still only ever feel completely safe when you’re with me. I don’t know, maybe it’s just because of the macho, badass vibe you give off.  _ Her tone went from serious to teasing. She smirked and giggled. 

_ “Wow. Macho, badass vibe? Uh, I don’t know what to say. Although, we should probably head out. It’s getting late.”  _ he stuttered. “ _ Oh, and I’m not sure if it’s the alcohol talking at this point or not, but…do you want to get dinner sometime? Just the two of us?”  _ He asked. 

She froze. That was not what she had expected him to say. At all. She sat there processing what he had just asked her for a second. She blinked a few times in shock and then opened her mouth to answer. 

_ “Uh, are you asking me out? Like, on a date?”  _ she asked, shocked. 

_ “Uh, yeah, but...I clearly overstepped and it’s ok if you say no. I never should have…”  _

Before she could say anything else, Lucy was beside him, pulling him up from his chair and into her embrace. She pulled him closer, hesitating as their lips moved closer and closer. 

_ “Is this ok? We can stop if…”  _ she started to ask, breathlessly

_ “No, it’s fine. But, you never answered my question.”  _ Tim whispered. 

_ “Does this answer your question?”  _ she asked, planting a kiss on his lips. 

_ “Mmm. Unclear. Try again.”  _ Tim said softly, before their lips met once more. 


	2. After The Kiss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ahhhh! So Tim and Lucy just had their 1st kiss!! What happens next?? I hope you all like it! Chapter 2 is super short, so I’ll probably post 1 more for now and then try to post a couple more in a few days or so!! Enjoy!

**Chapter 2: After the Kiss**

Neither of them wanted to pull away. If the kiss could have lasted forever they would have let it. But, Lucy pulled back, took a deep breath and just looked at Tim.

_ “Uh, I should get home. Jackson will have the entire LAPD out searching for me if I don’t get back soon.” _ she smiled awkwardly _. _

_ “Uh, yeah. I’ve gotta get back and let Kojo out before he has an accident on my floor. Tonight was fun. Congratulations again, Lucy.”  _ he nodded and grinned. 

They walked up to the bar so Tim could pay their tab and then headed out to the parking lot. They were both sober enough to drive themselves, so Tim walked Lucy to her car. 

She got in and started to buckle her seatbelt, but before she could finish buckling it, she threw it off, jumped back out, and pulled Tim in for one more kiss. 

_ “You sure you have to get home, Lucy? We could go back to my house. You could tell Jackson you’re coming over to see Kojo. we could, I don’t know, watch a movie or something?”  _ Tim grinned. 

_ “I would love to, but it’s almost midnight and there is no way Jackson would believe that I’m just going to visit Kojo. He’d see right through us, and I kind of want to just keep this our little secret for now.”  _ she said

Tim’s face dropped at that answer. 

_ “But...maybe I could just tell him that I met a guy at the bar after everybody left and decided to go back to his house for the night.”  _ Lucy added. 

She quickly texted Jackson, grabbed her keys and purse and locked her car. 

She and Tim headed to his truck. Her hand brushed against Tim’s and their fingers interlocked. They walked hand-in-hand the rest of the way. 

They both got in the truck and headed for Tim’s house. 

20 minutes later Tim pulled into the driveway. He looked over and found Lucy, asleep, curled up against the door. 

_ “Lucy. Lucy! We’re here. You need to wake up.”  _ he whispered gently, shaking her shoulder. 

_ “Mmmm...no!”  _ she mumbled.

_ “C’mon Lucy. If I had known you were just gonna fall asleep on me tonight, I would have just let you go home.”  _ he smiled. 

Her eyes fluttered open, she rubbed the sleep from her eyes, and stretched out a bit. She watched as Tim climbed out of the truck and came around to the passenger side to open the door for her. 

Lucy sat up just as he began to open the door. She pivoted around and dangled her legs out of the open door, stretching them towards the ground. Tim had his hand outstretched. She grabbed it and pulled herself up and the rest of the way out of the truck. 

Tim pulled Lucy in closer to him and they walked up the sidewalk to the front door. He pulled his keys out to unlock the door, but before he could get it unlocked, Lucy gently took his face in her hands and tenderly kissed him. They stood there under the soft, glowing porch light, kissing, completely and utterly intoxicated by each other. 

Tim finally unlocked the door a few minutes later and Kojo followed them as they made their way to the couch. Both of them fell into it in absolute bliss. 

  
_ “So, should we take this into the bedroom?”  _ Tim asked.


	3. The First Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucy went home with Tim!! Also, the end was not exactly what it seems, you’ll see what I mean when you start reading! This chapter is also kind of short, but it’s longer than Chapter 2. Also, just a warning, Tim has a bit of a flashback to Lucy’s kidnapping, but it’s nothing too intense! Enjoy!

**Chapter 3: The First Night**

He immediately saw hesitation fall across Lucy’s face. 

_ “Um…” _

_ “No, I’m sorry. Uh, I didn’t mean it like that. Seriously, get your mind out of the gutter, Boot.” _

Lucy gave him a look of disbelief. 

_ “I’m serious Lucy. That’s not what I meant. It’s just, I’m having the guest bedroom redone. A pipe burst in the wall it shares with the guest bathroom. Anyways, it’s a huge mess in there and the couch here isn’t exactly comfortable, as you can tell, so I figured you could just sleep in my bed, it’s a queen size, so there’s plenty of room for both of us.”  _ he explained, shaking his head at Lucy. 

_ “Oh, yeah. Um, sorry. It’s just that, I usually jump into relationships too fast and mess them up before they even start, and I don’t want to do that with you. I want to take things slow, Tim. Anyways, I’m exhausted, so yeah, let’s ‘take this into the bedroom’”  _ she laughed harder than she should have. 

_ “You making fun of me in my own house, Boot? You know I could always change my mind and make you sleep on the couch!”  _ he teased. 

Lucy playfully shoved him as they walked towards the bedroom. 

Tim looked through his dresser drawers and found Lucy a pair of cutoff sweatpants (which Angela had made him to wear into work one day after he lost a bet with her), and an old T-shirt from his academy days. He tossed them to her and headed into the bathroom to change into his pajamas and get ready for bed. 

He walked back into the bedroom and found Lucy curled up under the blankets on his side of the bed, sound asleep. If it were anybody else, he would have woken them up and made them move to the other side of the bed, but he didn’t mind Lucy being there. He turned the lights out and climbed into the other side of the bed. 

He laid there for a few minutes, just looking at Lucy. He couldn’t help but wonder what he had done to deserve someone as incredible and amazing as her. He also thought about the fact that he had almost lost her. Seeing her curled up, asleep in  _ his  _ bed, that fact hit him harder than it ever had before. 

He flashed back to pulling Lucy from the barrel. He remembered frantically searching for a pulse, listening for her breath that wasn’t there, the desperate attempt at CPR, the heartbreaking despair when it wasn’t working, and the relief that washed over him when she took those first gasps of air before collapsing into his arms, sobbing into his chest. 

It scared the hell out of Tim, thinking about losing her. He couldn’t imagine a world without Lucy in it. Tim wasn’t sure if he would have ever been able to recover from losing her. It would have destroyed him. Just thinking about it nearly brought him to tears. 

He looked at her again. Just thinking about how close he’d come to losing her made him want to hold her in his arms, to just feel her touch, to reassure himself that she was still there, that she was safe. He slid across the bed to her (his) side and gently wrapped his arm around her, pulling her closer to him. 

Lucy felt an arm wrap around her body. For a brief second she panicked. But then she remembered where she was. And who she was with. She sleepily groaned a bit as he pulled her closer. She laid her head on his chest and melted into his embrace. She had never felt safer in her life. 


	4. The Morning After

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucy and Tim just spent their first night together!! So, this chapter is mostly just some cute, fun Chenford stuff, but some lasting trauma from Lucy’s kidnapping comes up towards the end and continues into Chapter 5.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 4!! I really hope you all like it! There’s kind of, sort of some domestic Chenford (mainly Tim) in this chapter! Also, Lucy starts to have a panic attack at the end of this Chapter, that’s explored a bit more in Chapter 5, so fair warning for that! I’ll try to post another chapter, probably sometime this weekend!

**Chapter 4: The Morning After**

The rising sun peeked through the windows, illuminating the room with the soft, pale glow of sunrise.

Lucy was still wrapped in Tim’s embrace. Tim’s head rested gently atop hers. Lucy’s body curled into Tim’s, her head resting on his chest, cradled by one of his arms. Tim’s other arm laid across Lucy’s back, gently holding her close to him. 

Lucy slowly opened her eyes and looked around. This definitely wasn’t her bedroom. She looked down at the arms wrapped around her. They felt so safe and familiar. Then she felt them move and she heard a soft, soothing voice

_ “Hey. Good morning Lucy. How’d you sleep?”  _ Tim sleepily mumbled, pulling Lucy tighter into his arms. 

She looked at him and smiled. 

_ “Mmmm...best sleep of my life! Your bed is unreal. It was like sleeping on a cloud. And I had the cutest guy sleeping next to me. We should definitely do this more often.”  _ she responded, pulling him in for a good morning kiss.

They both sat up in the bed, still wrapped in each other’s embrace. They both wished they could stay right there together, forever. 

_ “Are you hungry? I think I’ve got some cinnamon rolls. Or I can fix pancakes and eggs or something?”  _ Tim asked. 

_ “Pancakes and eggs sound great! I’m starving!”  _ Lucy giggled, kissing Tim again. 

_ “Ok, but you know, you’re going to have to let me get out of this bed if you want breakfast!”  _ He kissed her back. 

_ “Awww. You’ll come right back though, right?”  _ Lucy frowned. 

Tim chuckled, “ _ Of course, I’ll always come back to you.”  _ he smiled and headed to the kitchen. 

Lucy could hear pans banging around and the fridge door opening and closing several times. She heard eggs cracking and hitting the pan, sizzling on the heat. Then she heard him mixing the pancake batter in a bowl. 

She dozed off for a few minutes. The smoke detector pierced the silence, followed by Tim’s very annoyed voice. 

_ “AWWW, DAMMIT. DAMMIT! OW, OW, OW!”  _

Lucy laughed as she heard a pan get tossed into the sink with a loud, hard thud. She heard Tim turn on a fan and a minute later the smoke detector shut off and silence fell over the house again. 

It was a few more minutes before Tim walked back into the room carrying two plates of the most delicious looking pancakes Lucy had ever seen. 

_ “So, what happened to the eggs you were making?”  _ Lucy teased, noticing Tim’s shirt covered in said eggs. 

_ “Well, I didn’t forget I was making them, burn them, and then manage to dump scalding hot eggs all over myself while trying to dump them into the trash, if that’s what you were thinking”  _ he said, setting the plates down, pulling his shirt off and tossing it towards the bathroom.

Lucy couldn’t help but laugh. 

_ “So...no eggs then?”  _ she smirked. 

Tim rolled his eyes, picked up one of the plates of pancakes and shoved it towards Lucy. 

_ “Just take the pancakes. You’ll never speak of this again, boot.”  _ he huffed. 

Lucy giggled as she took the plate and took a bite of pancake. 

_ “Oh my god. Tim! These are amazing! They are literally melting in my mouth. I had no idea you were such a good cook!”  _ Lucy fawned over the pancakes. 

_ “What can I say? It’s my best kept secret. I can’t have word getting out that I can cook though. I’d have to actually make something for the station’s holiday pitch-in.”  _ he laughed.

Lucy giggled as she took another bite. 

_ “Yeah. Definitely wouldn’t want it getting out! I’d probably have to share my pancakes if that happened!”  _ she grinned. 

Tim grabbed his plate and climbed back into the bed, snuggling up to Lucy as he took a bite of his own pancake. 

_ “Yeah, definitely wouldn’t want you to have to share, would we?”  _ He kissed the top of her head. 

They finished their pancakes and laid in bed a while longer before Lucy started to get up.

She sighed. 

_ “This has been amazing, and I’ve loved every second of it, but I should probably head home. It’s almost 10:00, Jackson’s gonna start calling and sending me a million texts soon”  _ she laughed. 

Tim pulled her back in for another kiss.

_ “Ok, but let’s do this again. How about tomorrow after work? We could go to Ravenna? I heard they added some fancy, gourmet veggie burger to the menu.”  _ he whispered, his lips pressed against hers. 

_ “Sounds great!”  _ Lucy kissed him back before getting up, finding the clothes she had left in a pile at the end of the bed last night and heading to the bathroom to change. 

_ “You know, I’m perfectly comfortable with you changing in front of me if you’re comfortable with it. You don’t have to lock yourself in the bathroom, Lucy!”  _ he shouted as Lucy pulled the door shut and locked it. 

She didn’t respond as she pulled Tim’s oversized shirt over her head. As if by instinct, her hand ran across her side, over the permanent reminder of the worst thing to ever happen to her. 

Tim had told her that he saw it as proof that she’s a survivor, and as hard as she tried to see it that way too, Lucy still couldn’t help but see it as her biggest failure sometimes. 

She had failed to see Caleb coming. She had failed to notice him drug her drink. She had failed fighting back when he kidnapped her. She had failed her escape attempt at the house. And worst of all, she had almost failed to hold on long enough for Tim to find her after Caleb buried her alive. 

She tried to fight back the tears welling up in her eyes. But they flooded out anyways. Hot, shame-filled tears rolled down her cheeks. 

Then, to add insult to injury, the power flickered out. Lucy’s legs gave out underneath her and she crumpled to the floor of the windowless, now pitch-black bathroom. She could feel it coming. The panic. The fear. Everything. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 5 is going to be focused on Lucy’s panic attack, and then the next few chapters after are a bit heavier on the drama, and something big happens to one of our main characters. Also, more of the main characters, if not all of them, are going to be in the upcoming chapters!


	5. Here For You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is pretty much just completely focused on Lucy’s panic attack with a cute Cojo moment at the end. There’s a lot of Tim comforting Lucy and some deep, serious conversation. I just really wanted to explore Lucy’s post-kidnapping trauma a little bit more. It’s also a fairly long chapter, so I’m only posting 1 chapter. I’ll probably try to post another chapter by mid-week!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was a little hesitant to post this because it focuses so much on Lucy’s panic attack, but I feel like Lucy’s post-kidnap trauma is something we didn’t see a whole lot of on the actual show, so I really wanted to include it a bit in my fic. I tried to write it as realistically as possible, and keep them both as in-character as possible. Enjoy and be sure to leave comments/constructive criticism if you want!

**Chapter 5: Here for You**

She tried to stay calm, but in an instant, she was back inside the barrel, choking and gasping for air. She couldn’t move. She couldn’t breathe. 

Her chest tightened and her heart was beating so hard she thought it would bust its way out of her chest at any second. Her arms, legs, every inch of her body trembled. 

Then she saw a tiny bit of sunlight filtering in from the small space between the door and the floor. She took a deep breath, calming herself just enough to crawl over to the door and try desperately to open it. She was shaking and sobbing as she fumbled with the handle, unable to get it unlocked. She slammed her hand into the door in frustration. Every ounce of calmness Lucy had just mustered up faded away and complete and total panic set back in.   


She sunk weakly back towards the ground. 

Tim was startled by the loud thud on the bathroom door. He jumped up and ran towards the bathroom.

_ “LUCY? ARE YOU OK IN THERE?”  _ he shouted. There was no answer. 

As he got closer he could hear her crying. Then he heard her frantic, terrified voice. 

_ “Help me. Please help me. I can’t...I can’t breathe.”  _ she whimpered, her words barely audible through shallow, labored breathing as she choked on every word.

Tim’s heart sank.   


He knew how dark that bathroom gets. He also knew darkness was still one of the triggers she hadn’t been able to work through.

“ _ Oh god. She thinks she’s back in the barrel. _ ” Tim thought to himself. 

He softly tapped on the door. 

_ “Hey Lucy. It’s me. It’s Tim. I know it’s really dark in there right now, but you’re ok. You’re safe, ok? I’m right here. Just listen to my voice and take some deep breaths for me, ok?”  _ he heard her take a few deep breaths. 

_ “Ok, good! Now, I want you to find the door handle for me. Once you do that, twist the little piece in the middle. That will unlock the door.”  _ he spoke to her softly.

_ “I…I can’t. I can’t see anything and I can’t breathe and I just want out of here. Please get me out of here Tim. I’m scared.”  _ she shakily whispered. 

_ “You’re going to be ok. I promise. But if you make me kick this door down, I will make you pay for it AND run the academy training course in a bomb disposal suit”  _

He heard her let out a small, tearful, laugh. Then a minute or two later he heard the lock turn and the door flew open. 

Lucy crashed right into Tim and he wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly as she clung to him, face buried in his chest, sobbing.

_ “I’m so sorry Tim. I didn’t mean to…” _

_ “Don’t apologize Lucy. You went through a lot with what Caleb did to you. Never apologize for your trauma. I just want you to know that you are safe. I love you Lucy and I know how strong you are and I know you don’t need me to, but I will always protect you and keep you safe. He can’t hurt you anymore, and if I have anything to do with it, no one else will ever hurt you either.” _

Tim kept her tight in his embrace. 

Lucy’s sobs began to subside and her breathing slowed. 

_ “It was my tattoo.”  _ Lucy said softly, her voice muffled before she lifted her head to look at him.

_ “What?”  _ Tim asked, puzzled. 

_ “My tattoo. It’s what set me off this time. You told me on my first day back after everything that you saw it as proof that I’m a survivor. But today, seeing it in the mirror while I was getting dressed, feeling it, seeing it on my side, again, all I could see was how badly I failed the night Caleb took me. The power going out was just very poorly timed and made me spiral further.”  _

_ “Lucy. Listen to me. At no point did you fail. You know it’s almost impossible to know when someone’s slipped something in your drink until it’s too late, and I read your account of everything that happened at that house. You put up a hell of a fight. You used everything you were taught. You fought. You managed to free yourself in the house and you damn near escaped. Don’t you dare think, even for a second, that you failed. I mean, you were climbing into a barrel, about to be buried alive, and you still had enough composure to toss your ring for me to find. You saved yourself Lucy. And I am so proud of you for that. You’re amazing Lucy. Never, never a failure, do you hear me?”  _ he assured her, gently brushing the tears from her cheek.

More tears ran down her cheeks as she nodded her head. She sat there a minute more before brushing the tears away and getting up. 

_ “Ok. Now I really have to go. Jackson is going to freak if I’m gone any longer. He’s been really overprotective since I was kidnapped, and as much as I genuinely do appreciate his concern for me, I really don’t want him to worry...Oh.You’re going to have to drive me back to the bar to get my car!”  _ she said, sniffling a few times. 

Tim smiled. 

_ “No need. I found your keys this morning before you woke up and Ubered over to get it. Your car’s outside Luce!”  _ he grinned

__

_ “Wait. You know what Uber is? And how to use it?  _ she tearfully giggled. 

_ “Seriously though, you did not have to do that! But thank you!”  _ she smiled, wiping away the last few tears still running down her face.   


“ _ And thank you for, you know, talking me down. I thought I had the panic attacks under control.”  _ her smile fell and a mix of shame and guilt fell across her face. 

Tim noticed, got up, walked over to her, wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close once again. 

_ “It’s ok Lucy. What you went through, it doesn’t just go away after you’re cleared for duty or a few months later, or even a few years later. It’s always going to be with you. There’s going to be things that trigger you. You’re going to have panic attacks from time to time. And that’s ok. It’s normal. Hell, I have them from time to time. But, it’s how you respond to them. I know in the moment, when you are in the grips of one, it feels like a dark, terrifying hole that you’re never gonna get out of, but you can’t let it swallow you, ok? Promise me that. You have to put up that same fight you did when you saved yourself from Caleb. And you have to ask for help when you need it. I am here for you and I will always be here for you. I don’t care if it’s 2:00 in the morning. If you need me, you call me or you text me, and I will be there, no questions asked.”  _ He softly kissed the top of her head. 

_ “Now, you better get going. Let me know when you get home, ok? I’ll see you at work tomorrow, boot!  _ Tim said softly. 

Lucy nodded, afraid that if she spoke, she’d start crying again. She grabbed her phone off the nightstand and walked out of the room, Tim trailing behind her. 

She got halfway across the living room when she stopped and crouched down to pet Kojo. 

_ “Hey buddy! Hey. Awww. Are you such a good boy? Who’s a good boy? Daddy might have to let you come visit me at my house sometime, because we would totally have tons of fun, and I think you’ve really grown on Uncle Jackson!”  _ she cooed. 

She gave him a few more back and ear scratches before standing back up and walking the rest of the way to the door. She turned to Tim before leaving.

_ “Thank you again Tim. You seriously have no idea how amazing you are. See you tomorrow!”  _

Tim nodded,  _ “Anytime. See you tomorrow Luce.”  _ he replied as he shut the door behind her. 


	6. The First Date (Part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s the day of Tim and Lucy’s first date! This is the first part so it’s focused on the build-up and general pre-first date randomness. Something big happens at the end that may put a hold on the Chenford 1st date though! This chapter and the next end in cliffhangers, so prepare yourselves!! Enjoy!

**Chapter 6: The First Date (Part 1)**

It had been almost two days since their first kiss at the bar. Their excitement about their upcoming first date was palpable the entire day, but Tim and Lucy hadn’t told anybody that they were officially together yet, so John, Nyla, Jackson, Angela, and Sergeant Grey spent the day trying to figure out what had Tim so uncharacteristically upbeat and dare they say, cheery. 

_ “You’re seeing someone, aren’t you?”  _ Angela had asked suspiciously after roll call. 

Tim just shook his head. 

_ “No. I’m not seeing anybody. And my personal life is none of your business Lopez.”  _ he grumbled, annoyed. 

_ “Ok. Fine. Whatever. But whoever it is, she must be pretty amazing. I’ve never seen you so happy before!”  _ Angela beamed, happy for him. She left him alone and headed out to get to work. 

_ “Ok Luce. Spill. Who’s the guy?”  _ Jackson and John all but ambushed her after roll call. 

_ “What? What guy? There’s no guy! I’m just excited to finally be a P2.” _ Lucy responded nervously, before dashing off to get her gear and start her first day of riding solo. 

_ “I don’t buy it for a second.” _ Jackson told John, shaking his head. 

_ “Me either.”  _ John agreed. 

They headed off to work too. 

  
  


_ (Flash forward to after shift)  _

It was 7:05 and Lucy had just clocked out for the day. She rushed to the locker room to get changed, nearly taking Nyla out as she quickly made her way to her locker. 

Nyla stood there stunned for a second. 

_ “Damn Lucy! Where’s the fire?  _ she asked dryly. 

Angela, who had also narrowly missed a run-in with Lucy, chimed in. 

_ “You got a hot date or something?”  _ she teased. 

Lucy was preoccupied with getting her uniform off and the simple, but stunning, dress that Jackson had helped her pick out last night, on. 

_ “Actually, yeah! I do have a date tonight. The guy is super sweet and he’s really cute too! I’ve never met anyone like him. He might actually be my soulmate. Anyways, I have to finish getting ready, so, sorry for nearly killing you both on my way in here.” _ she grinned. . 

Nyla and Angela exchanged a look. 

_ “So, this guy, does he have a name? I think I need to run a background check on him. Or, at least find out where he lives in case he ever hurts you.”  _ Angela smirked. 

Nyla chuckled. 

_ “Yeah, we need to know a little about this guy, so we can definitely not hunt him down and give him the ‘you hurt her, I hurt you’ talk.”  _ Nyla added. 

Lucy turned around, now in her dress and favorite pair of strappy heels, and gave them the biggest eye roll she could. 

_ “Ok, I appreciate the concern, but I don't think we have to worry about this guy ever hurting me. He’s a great guy, really, he is. And actually, I trust him more than I’ve ever trusted anyone else in my life.”  _ she told them. 

Angela and Nyla could tell that whoever this guy was, Lucy was absolutely head-over-heels for him. 

_ “You’ve really got it bad for this guy, huh?”  _ Angela and Nyla both said simultaneously. 

Lucy rolled her eyes as she touched up her makeup and quickly brushed her hair. 

She was finally ready to go. She grabbed her bag and uniform and hurried out to her car. 

As she got in her car, Lucy saw Tim drive by in his truck. She didn’t get a good look at him, but it was ok, because she knew she’d get to see him all night. 

Lucy pulled out of the Mid-Wilshire parking garage and onto the road that would take her straight to the restaurant. 

She could see Tim’s truck a couple blocks ahead of her. Lucy smiled to herself. In just a few short minutes she would be enjoying dinner with the love of her life. 

Lucy had almost caught up to Tim, thanks to Tim’s remarkable ability to hit all the red lights within a 10 block radius of the station. He always got annoyed with her for laughing about that fact during their days riding together on duty. 

She looked away for a split second as the light she was at turned green and she instinctively looked left to right before proceeding through the intersection. 

Lucy heard tires squealing at the next intersection up.

She saw cars a few hundred feet in front of her slam on their brakes. She quickly hit her brakes as well. 

Then she heard the unmistakable sound of two cars making contact with each other. She cringed at the crunching of steel and aluminum and the sound of glass shattering. 

Lucy was now only a few cars behind where she assumed the accident had happened. She put her car in park, jumped out of her car, grabbed her first aid kit from the backseat and rushed to the scene. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CLIFFHANGER!!! What (or who) do you think Lucy finds at the accident scene? Will the Chenford first date happen? I’ll probably post another chapter or two sometime this weekend! Don’t forget to leave comments if you have any!


	7. The First Date (Part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Somebody’s been in an accident? Was it Tim? What does Lucy find when she gets to the scene? This chapter will answer all these questions AND end in another cliffhanger (sorry!!) There’s an appearance of someone familiar and there’s a direct reference to the actual show too! Also, there might be a few inaccuracies w/ the actual accident purely to add to the drama lol.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve already posted half the story!! That’s crazy!! Although there’s one chapter coming up that’s kind of long that I might break up into a few chapters, but IDK. Anyways, as always, enjoy this chapter!!

**Chapter 7: The First Date (Part 2)**

As Lucy approached the accident, her stomach sank. She recognized Tim’s truck immediately. 

_ “Somebody call 911!”  _ she yelled to the crowd of witnesses and bystanders staring in disbelief and shock around the scene. 

It didn’t look too terribly bad, but the front and part of the driver’s side of Tim’s truck was smashed in. The driver of the other car had gotten out and was running towards Tim. 

_ “Oh my god. Oh. My. God. It was an accident. I swear! Is he ok? The light turned red right as I got up to it so I didn't slow down. I just gunned it through. I swear, I didn’t even see that guy. He’s going to be ok, right?”  _ The young man was distraught. 

_“It’s ok. Just calm down. It doesn't look too bad, so I’m sure he’ll be fine. Stay back, ok? I’m a police officer and I’m trained in first aid. I’ll take care of him.”_ Lucy shouted at the man as she rushed to Tim’s truck 

_ Are you hurt anywhere?”  _ she asked, glancing back, watching the man shake his head no, and turning her full attention back to Tim. 

She tried to pull the door open to get to him, but with the location of the impact, the door was stuck. The window was already shattered, so she used her elbow to break the glass out enough to get to Tim. She saw some blood running down his face, coming from a fairly deep cut on the side of it. 

_ “Tim! Hey. Hey. Tim! Can you hear me? Where are you hurt?”  _ she worriedly asked. 

He moaned and slowly came to. 

_ “Lucy? Mmm...I’m ok. I think I’ve got a broken leg, definitely a concussion and some whiplash, maybe a few broken ribs, and my back is a bit sore, but nothing too serious. I don’t think I can get out though. Not exactly the first date I had planned.”  _ he let out a small chuckle, grimacing in pain. 

“ _ Ok. Just hang tight for a minute. Fire department and medics will be here soon.”  _ She assured him.  _ “And sorry to be the one to tell you this, but I think you’re going to need a new truck.”  _ she joked, trying to lighten the mood a bit. 

Tim smiled slightly before he saw the man standing not too far behind Lucy. He rolled his eyes, wincing slightly from the pain of the cut on his head. 

_ “He ran the red light. Has he been drinking? Or is he normally this stupid?”  _ he muttered just loud enough for Lucy to hear and giggle softly to herself. 

They heard sirens approach and Lucy saw a group of firefighters, including her ex, Emmett, rushing over. They had broken up a while ago, but it was mutual and they were still good friends. 

_ “What happened here?”  _ Emmett asked Lucy. 

He then glanced over into the truck and saw Tim.

_ “Oh damn. Tim?”  _ he exclaimed, waving the other firefighters over as he rushed to the window. 

_ “C’mon guys! We’ve got to get him out of here!”  _ he turned back to Lucy “ _ The door stuck?”  _ he asked her. 

She nodded. 

_ “Alright. We’re going to need the jaws. The door’s stuck, we need to get it open ASAP.”  _ he shouted to the group of firefighters making their way to the car. 

One of the guys ran back to the engine and grabbed the jaws of life. 

What none of them knew was that a piece of plastic from the driver’s side door split off into a sharp, jagged piece in the impact and impaled Tim’s thigh, nicking his femoral artery. The crumpled driver's side was keeping it under control, but as soon as the door was pulled open, Tim was at risk of quickly bleeding out. 

The firefighters got the door open and were preparing to cut off the seatbelt and get him out of the wreckage when Tim lost consciousness and slumped over in the seat, blood pouring from his thigh. 

Emmett saw the heavy bleeding and immediately applied as much pressure as he possibly could to the wound. 

_ “He’s bleeding out! We need a tourniquet, NOW!!”  _ he yelled. 

Lucy knew she had one in the first aid kit in her hands. She quickly opened the kit and found it. She tossed it to Emmett, who quickly wrapped it above the now very visible wound. The bleeding stopped, or at least slowed significantly, but Tim had lost a lot of blood. 

Lucy was visibly shaken and upset as she watched them hurriedly get Tim out of the truck, onto a stretcher, into the waiting ambulance and on his way to the hospital. 

Lucy stayed on scene long enough to give her statement to one of the Mid-Wilshire night shift officers. Then she ran back to her car and carefully, but quickly got turned around into the opposite lane. She rushed to the hospital. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhhhhh! Is Tim going to be ok? Will they get him to the hospital in time?? WILL THEY SAVE HIM??? I’ll post the next chapter maybe mid-week next week, it might be a bit longer between chapters this time because of Thanksgiving, but I’ll try not to post it much later than maybe next weekend! Don’t forget to leave comments if you want! Let me know what you think so far!!


	8. The First Date (Part 3)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tim is rushed to the hospital and into surgery in attempts to save his life. Meanwhile Lucy and the other former rookies/T.Os gather in the waiting room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, there shouldn’t be any more cliffhangers for awhile! I’m excited for you all to read this chapter!! Enjoy!

**Chapter 8: The First Date (Part 3)**

She ran into the ER and up to the check-in desk. 

_“Hi. My name is Lucy Chen. I’m looking for Tim Bradford. He was brought in here not too long ago. He was in an accident. The paramedics brought him in.”_ she was almost in tears. 

The nurse looked at the computer and then back up at Lucy. 

_“It looks like he lost a lot of blood Ms. Chen. He was rushed to the O.R as soon as he arrived. It’ll be awhile before he’s out, but I can have someone take you down to the waiting room so you’ll be there when he gets out if you want.”_

“ _Ok. Yeah, th...that would be great.”_ Lucy softly responded, brushing tears from her eyes. 

A couple minutes later, a nurse came and took her to the waiting room where she finally sat down. 

She pulled out her phone and called Jackson. 

“ _Hey Lucy! Aren’t you supposed to be on a date?”_ he teased. 

Lucy choked back her tears. 

_“Jackson.”_ She whispered _“Tim was in an accident.”_

_“Oh my god. Is he ok? No. Obviously he’s not. Otherwise you would have said that. Sorry. So, how bad is it?”_ he asked sympathetically. 

_“Most of his injuries are fairly minor. But a piece of plastic from the door went into his leg. It nicked his femoral artery. He lost a ton of blood. He’s in surgery right now, but god, there was so much blood Jackson.”_ she broke down. _“He has to be ok, right?”_

_“Yeah. He’s as tough as they come, you know that Luce. You think he’s gonna let a piece of plastic take him out? I’m actually convinced the man is too stubborn to die.”_ he heard Lucy tearfully giggle _“I’ll be there in 15.”_ he added before he hung up. 

She decided to call Angela next. 

_“Hey Lucy! How was your date?”_ Angela asked as soon as she answered. 

_“Uh. I didn’t go on my date. I came up on an accident on my way,”_ she sniffled _“It was...uh...it was Tim. He was t-boned going through an intersection”_ she managed to get all that out before she started crying again. 

_“Oh god. How bad is it? Is he going to be ok?”_ Angela’s voice was thick with emotion. 

_“Um, he lost a lot of blood. A piece of plastic splintered off the door and punctured his leg. It nicked his femoral. He’s in surgery right now, but his other injuries weren’t too serious.. I’m at the hospital right now and Jackson’s on his way.”_

_“Ok. I’m on my way too. Wesley and I will be there as soon as we can.”_ she was very clearly crying now. 

Lucy could hear Wesley in the background and she heard Angela telling him what was going on. 

_“Hey Angela? Would you mind calling Nyla and John and Sergeant Grey. I don’t think I could handle making another call right now.”_ Lucy asked sadly. 

_“Of course. I’ll call them on the way. Wesley and I will be there soon.”_ Angela replied, sniffling. 

They hung up and Lucy just sat there. Stunned and very much in shock. Tears flooded out of her red, swollen eyes as she buried her face in her hands. her entire body was shaking. 

A few minutes later Jackson walked in, followed by Angela and Wesley. 

All four of them sat in silence. Jackson had his arms around Lucy, comforting her. 

They’d been waiting about 30 minutes before John, Nyla, and Grey all walked in together. 

_“Hey, any news yet?”_ John asked. 

They all shook their heads. 

The three that just came in all sat down with the rest of the group. 

It was nearly two hours before Grace came out and walked over to them. She looked serious but not grim which they assumed was good. 

_“Hey guys. So good news! Tim is out of surgery and in recovery. We repaired the femoral artery in his left leg and replaced most of the blood he lost. He’s getting another transfusion as we speak and we’ll transfer him to the ICU within the next hour. Other than that, he’s got a few cracked ribs, a mild concussion, a broken tibia and fibula in his left leg, whiplash, and a couple bruised vertebrae in his lower back which should heal up in a couple weeks.”_ she noticed Lucy crying.

_“He’s going to be ok Lucy. There is no reason to believe he won’t make a full recovery. He’s really lucky. The paramedics that brought him in said you had the tourniquet in your first aid kit? You saved his life Lucy.”_ she reassured her. 

_“When can we see him?”_ Nyla asked. 

_“We’ll get him moved and situated in a room in the ICU then you can all go see him, ok?”_ Grace answered _“I’ll come get you when he’s ready for visitors. It shouldn’t be too long.”_

She left to go check in on Tim. 

They all breathed a collective sigh of relief. 

Lucy looked around at the group. 

_“He’s going to be ok.”_ she said tearfully. They all jumped up and rushed over to hug her. 

She lingered in Jackson’s embrace, sobbing, as he gently comforted her in the way only her best friend could. 

The hugging and tears subsided and they all sat down, anxiously waiting to see Tim. 

John and Jackson tried to distract Lucy and take her mind off of Tim for a few minutes. Jackson showed her some cheesy TikTok videos and John gave her all the updates on Henry and Abigail’s wedding planning. 

_“So you’re telling me they still haven’t decided on a venue? Didn’t they spend, like, two weeks scouting venues a few months ago?”_ Lucy exclaimed. 

John sighed. _“Uh, yes. Yes they did. And they have it narrowed down to about 10 different ones.”_

“ _10?”_ Lucy mouthed, shocked. 

_“10. Well, it was 6. Until I spent about two hours on the phone with them the other night trying to help them pick one, and they somehow ended up adding 4 more to their list.”_ He rubbed his temple. 

Jackson jumped in again. _“Ok. You have to see this one too. It’s so adorable! You’ll love it!”_ He turned his phone screen towards Lucy, revealing a funny dog video. 

She laughed as Jackson scrolled through searching for more videos Lucy might like. He had just found one when Grace approached. 

_“Hey! So Tim has been moved to the ICU. We’ll keep him there overnight and if he does ok tonight, we’ll probably transfer him out to a regular room, probably in the Ortho department, tomorrow. For now, I’ll take you to his room so you all can visit.”_

They all stood up and followed Grace through a set of doors and down a long hallway. 

They stopped in front of his room and Grace turned to them. 

_He’s still pretty out of it from surgery and the painkillers we gave him, so it’s probably going to be best if only 2-3 of you go in at a time.”_ she told the group. 

Everybody nodded. Grey took charge. 

_“Ok. Uh, Chen? You want to go in first?”_ he asked. 

She nodded. 

_“Alright, West and Nolan, you go in with her and then Angela and Wesley can go in together, and Nyla and I will go after them and then we’ll call it a night and let Tim get some rest, ok?”_

They all muttered and mumbled a chorus of uh-huhs and yeahs and oks. 

Lucy took a deep breath. John and Jackson were on either side of her. Jackson squeezed her hand as they entered the room. She wriggled her hand out of his grip and quietly walked over to Tim’s bed. 

_“Hey.”_ she whispered as she grabbed Tim’s hand. 

He groggily opened his eyes and looked around. 

_“Hey Tim! How’re you feeling?”_ Lucy asked softly. 

He groaned and slowly pushed himself up slightly in the bed. 

_“Like I was hit by a car. They gave me some craaaazy pain meds though. Hey, how’d my legs get so long? What’d they do to my legs? And my arms...they feel so light. Lucy? Are my arms still here? What’d they do to my legs?”_ He frowned as he looked down at his legs and then checked the status of his arms. 

Lucy, John, and Jackson were laughing hysterically. 

_“Whyyy are youuu laughing?”_ Tim whined. 

Lucy had tears running down her face from laughing so hard and John and Jackson were wheezing. None of them could catch their breath long enough to answer. 

_“Guuuys! Why. Are. You. Laughing??”_ Tim whined again. 

Lucy finally caught her breath for a second. 

_“Tim. Your legs are the same length they’ve always been and your arms are still there.”_ she mischievously giggled _“You’re high.”_

They all started laughing again. Tim joined them briefly before a look of shock crossed his face. 

_“West? Nolan? When did you guys get here? Lucy? Are we having a party? Oooh! Let’s do some karaoke!”_

Tim started to groggily mumble/sing Def Leppard’s _Pour Some Sugar On Me_. Most of his words were slurred and he was very off tune. That lasted about 10 seconds before he noticed the hospital gown he now had on.

_Wait. Why am I wearing a dress? Guys? Be honest, how’s it look? It really highlights my curves, right?”_

Lucy started to say something but completely lost it. High Tim was the funniest thing she’d ever seen and possibly her favorite version of him. 

Several minutes of hysterical laughter and wheezing later, John sighed. 

_“Well, I guess we should head out. You’ve got some more visitors waiting outside.”_

John and Jackson said their goodbyes and good nights and get well soons and were ready to go. 

Lucy realized they were just waiting on her. 

_“You guys go ahead. I’ll be out in a second, okay?”_ she said. 

They nodded and walked out into the hallway, leaving Lucy alone with Tim. 

_“Hey, so I’m gonna run home and change, and maybe grab something to eat, while Angela and Wesley and Nyla and Grey visit, but I’ll be back as soon as they leave, ok?”_

_“Oooh_ , _will you grab me something to eat too? I’m starving! How about some of those macaronis you like?”_ Tim’s face lit up. 

_“The what?.”_ Lucy giggled. 

Tim frowned. 

_“You know! Those French cookie things you like! Macaronis!”_

Lucy stifled her laughter as she rolled her eyes. 

_“You mean macarons? Yeah. I’ll go get you some!”_

Tim teasingly scowled at her. 

_“Is that not what I said?”_ he grinned. 

_“Sure. Ok. That’s definitely what you said.”_ she conceded. 

_“Anyways, I’m gonna head out now. I can practically feel Angela glaring at me through the door. But, I’ll be back later, ok?”_ she said, turning to leave. 

  
  


_“Ok. Lucy?_

She whipped her head back around to face him. 

_“Yeah?”_ she looked worried. 

_I’m sorry. I was really looking forward to tonight. So much for a first date, I guess.”_ he said, dejected, his words still slurred. 

Lucy’s heart broke. Tim had a whole special night planned for her and they had both been so excited about it and instead he ended up here. 

_“Tim. It’s ok, seriously. Right now I’m just really, really glad you’re ok. I have no idea what I would do without you. I love you so much. We’ll get our first date. And it’s going to be amazing. I promise. Now, I’m gonna go because I know Angela is anxious to see you. And I know you’re high right now, try to behave yourself! I’ll be back soon! Love you!”_

She was already plotting in her head as she walked out of the room. Tim couldn’t make it to their first date tonight, but she sure as hell could bring their first date to him!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is way lighter, I promise!! I’ll try to post another chapter by mid-week, but I’m starting 2 weeks of online classes this week so it depends on how much time I have to spend on my classes! But I’ll definitely have it posted sometime this coming week/weekend. Also don’t forget to leave comments and suggestions if you want!!


	9. The First Date (Take 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucy puts together a special surprise for Tim to help cheer him up about their not so great first-date that never was!! This is mostly just a fun, light scene! Tim also gets discharged from the hospital.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really hope you all enjoy this chapter! And I hope you liked the last chapter too. I had a lot of fun writing the high Tim scene lol, I might have actually had too much fun hahaha!

Chapter 9: The First Date (Take 2)

Tim was asleep when Lucy got back to the hospital. She was thankful for that, because it made getting everything set up a lot easier. 

She had grabbed a clean outfit and her favorite pair of sandals from her apartment and stopped by Target to pick up some flowers, the nicest tablecloth she could find, fancy plates and silverware, some string lights, LED candles, and a handful of other stuff she inevitably found and bought as well. 

Her plan was to decorate the room while he was asleep tonight and then surprise him with breakfast from the new gourmet breakfast cafe a few blocks from the station when he woke up in the morning. 

She quietly put string lights up all around the small room, placed the tablecloth over the rolling table at Tim’s bedside and arranged the plates, silverware, champagne flutes, flowers and a few of the candles on top of it. Next, she sprinkled some glittery confetti across the table and nightstand and draped another strand of string lights around the table. Lucy finished off the decorations with a gold sequin backdrop with the last strand of string lights tucked behind and rose petals sprinkled around in various places. 

She had just finished decorating when a nurse came in to check on Tim. 

“Wow! Someone’s going to be in for a surprise when they wake up!” the nurse whispered, stunned at the very elaborate set-up. “So, what’d he do to deserve this? she joked. 

Lucy smiled. 

“Uh, we were on our way to dinner when the accident happened. It was supposed to be our first date.” Lucy explained “He was super bummed about it, so I decided to bring the first date to him!” she beamed “I just hope he doesn’t wake up and see it all before I go get breakfast in the morning.” Lucy said, worried. 

“Oh, I don’t think there’s any risk of that! He was getting a bit restless after the last of his visitors left, we could barely keep him in bed! Dr. Sawyer gave him a sedative to help settle him down. He’ll be out for awhile!” the nurse assured her as she checked all Tim’s vitals. 

“Well, all his vitals still look good, so I’ll go ahead and get out of here. I’ll be back later to check on him again.” she said as she turned to leave. 

Lucy sleepily nodded as she leaned back in the chair she was sitting in. 

“Ok. Thank you! Oh, and by the way, could you not mention the whole first date thing to anyone else that comes to visit him? We haven’t told anyone we’re officially together yet!” Lucy replied. 

The nurse nodded and walked out. 

Lucy stretched out, yawned, closed her eyes, and let the sleep overtake her. 

Morning:

Sunlight pierced through the window. Lucy stretched and reached for her phone. She checked the time. It was 7:30. 

She looked over at Tim and sighed a breath of relief. Tim was still asleep...for now. She had to hurry and get breakfast ordered before he did finally wake up. 

She jumped up and stepped out into the hallway to call and place her order. She peered back in to check that Tim hadn’t woken up yet before quickly turning back around. 

“Ok Ms. Chen, your order should be ready and delivered in about 30 minutes. Should it be delivered to the main entrance?” the employee on the phone said. 

  
  


“Ok. Yeah, that’s perfect! Thank you!” she excitedly replied. 

She slipped back into Tim’s room, where he was still sleeping peacefully. She willed him to just stay asleep for 30 more minutes. 

She scrolled through Instagram and Twitter, sent a group text to give everyone a Tim update, and turned all the lights and candles on. Then she decided to change into her other outfit and get ready. 

She just finished her makeup when the delivery guy called to inform her that he was down in the lobby. 

She snuck out of the room and rushed downstairs. She grabbed the food, tipped the delivery guy generously and all but ran back up to Tim’s room. 

He was just starting to stir when she got back. Lucy hurriedly placed a couple of the decadent lemon-ricotta pancakes, a few strips of the sizzling maple-glazed bacon, some perfectly golden hash browns, fresh fruit, and some gourmet scrambled eggs on each of their plates (she skipped the bacon) and poured some orange juice into the champagne flutes. 

She got it all ready just in time. He sat up and was immediately confused. 

“Boot. What is all this?” he asked, stunned. 

Lucy’s face lit up. 

“Well, we didn’t quite make our first date, and you were so upset about it last night, so I decided I’d just bring the first date to you!” she told him. 

Tim was speechless. 

“You hate it don’t you? It’s too much, right? I’m sorry, it was stupid and…”

He cut her off. 

“Lucy. Of course it’s not stupid. It’s the farthest thing from stupid. Actually, it’s incredible! How’d you pull this off?” He was awestruck. 

“A magician never reveals her secrets!” Lucy giggled, and “But...I’m not saying the sedatives they gave you last night didn’t help!” she grinned. 

Tim’s gaze circled back around to Lucy. 

“I don’t know which looks more amazing, the decorations, or you! You look stunning Lucy.” he whispered.

Lucy’s smile grew even wider. 

“Well, should we eat now? The food’s gonna get cold and I spent good money on it!” Lucy cheerfully asked. 

“Yes. Absolutely. I’m starving! They wouldn’t let me eat anything last night because of how out of it I was after surgery.” he looked at the food hungrily. 

They ate breakfast and talked for awhile until Grace walked in to discuss transferring Tim out of the ICU. 

“We’re going to move him to a room on the Ortho floor for at least another 24 hours of observation. After that he’ll have a few more x-rays of that leg, they’ll set it in a cast and he’ll likely be discharged. We’ll get him moved probably in the next hour or so.” she told them before leaving again. 

“Lucy, you are something else, you know that? Most of our first date was spent with me out cold in the ICU, and you still managed to pull off the best one I’ve ever been on. I’m never letting you get away!” he was grinning from ear to ear. 

“I know it’s not what you had planned, we’re obviously going to have to have a real make-up first date at some point…” she started.

“No. We don’t need to make up anything. This is perfect. And it’ll be a hell of a story to tell one day. It’s perfect Lucy. You’re perfect. And I love you so much.” he told her “Now get over here, boot!” he reached his arm out to her. 

She moved closer and Tim grabbed her hand and gently pulled her towards him. She fell over onto the bed, narrowly avoiding falling on top of him. 

Tim pulled her in and all the emotion of the past 24 hours was released in a long, passionate kiss that seemed to last an eternity, but somehow still ended too soon. 

(2 Days Later):

The last few x-rays had been done and Tim’s leg had been set in a light blue cast. Lucy had helped pick the color, saying it matched his eyes. 

Lucy was out on patrol when Tim called to tell her he was finally being discharged. 

“Want me to pick you up? I’m sure Sergeant Grey would let me leave a couple hours early.” she asked him.

“I mean, if you want to. But Angela said Wesley is off today if I need him to drive me home.” he told her. 

“No, it’s fine. I’ll come get you. Did they tell you how soon they’re releasing you?” 

“I think they said sometime in the next hour or so. Does that work for you?” 

“Yeah. That’s fine! I’ll head back to the station and talk to Grey. I’ll text you when I’m on my way!” Lucy was so excited. 

She got back to the station and Grey cleared her to take off early. She quickly changed, texted Tim, and headed to the hospital. 

Lucy got there right as they wheeled Tim through the lobby. 

She helped him into her car and loaded his crutches into the back seat. 

30 minutes later they pulled up to Tim’s house. 

“Are you sure you’re going to be ok staying here by yourself?” Lucy asked, concerned. 

He rolled his eyes and scoffed. 

“I’ve got a broken leg and a concussion. I think I’ll be ok, boot.” 

She frowned. 

“Sorry, I just...I’m worried about you Tim. You’re absolutely sure you’ll be ok?” 

Tim smiled. He loved her concern and he loved how worried she was about him. 

“Lucy. I promise, I’ll be fine. I have your number if I need anything, ok? And I’ve got Angela’s and Nyla’s too. I wouldn’t say no to some food though.” he grinned. 

Lucy searched the fridge and raided the pantry. She made him fajitas and put a pan of brownies in the oven before she headed back to her apartment. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This next chapter of this fic is pretty long so I’m thinking of breaking it up into a few smaller chapters, so it’ll probably be a bit longer before another update while I try to figure out the best way to break up the chapters. Anyways, the next few chapters are essentially going to cover Tim’s first week home from the hospital with some Lucy taking care of Tim! I’ll try to update as soon as I can!


	10. The First Week Home (Part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tim’s finally home from the hospital and recovering (with some help from Lucy of course!!) this chapter is more or less just fluff and general Chenford cuteness, so enjoy!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have the first week home from the hospital stuff that I originally had all in one chapter all separated into a couple more chapters because it was super long and will probably post again sometime this week!

**Chapter 10: The First Week Home (Part 1)**

Day 1: 

It had been nearly 24 hours since Tim got home from the hospital. Lucy had stopped by before her shift to check on him and bring breakfast, an açaí bowl from her and Jackson’s favorite breakfast food truck. 

_ “What is an açaí bowl? Did I even pronounce that right? I feel like that’s NOT how it’s pronounced.”  _ he had joked when she handed him his bowl. 

Lucy’s laughter had filled his apartment as she burst out laughing at him and his completely, 100% wrong pronunciation of açaí. 

Much to his disappointment, she didn’t stay long. She finished her breakfast, checked him over thoroughly, gave him a huge kiss, and rushed off to work, promising to stop by with dinner after her shift. 

Tim turned the tv on and turned the news on to watch while he finished his breakfast. 

A short while later he dozed off on the couch. He was out cold for several hours before he bolted upright, reaching for his phone to check the time. 

Much to his surprise it was 5:00. He had slept nearly the entire day. 

Now he was stuck waiting for 7:00 and Lucy’s return. He had no idea what to do for two more hours. 

He flipped through the channels on the tv, hoping to find something to watch. He found an Impractical Jokers marathon on one channel and flipped it on. Lucy had gotten him hooked on it during the late nights after her kidnapping when she couldn’t sleep and would show up at his door in the middle of the night.

He watched a couple episodes before dozing off again. 

Lucy finished up some paperwork, clocked out and headed to Tim’s. She stopped by one of the food trucks near the regular lunch spot and bought herself and Tim veggie rice bowls, on her way. 

It was about 7:30 when she finally made it to Tim’s house. She unlocked the door and walked in. 

_ “Hey babe! I hope you’re hungry, because I brought dinner!”  _ she said, cheerfully. 

When he didn’t respond she turned towards the living room. 

She smiled. He looked so cute. His broken leg was propped on a pillow on the couch and his other leg and one arm was dangling off the couch. His head was laying on the armrest, and his other arm was resting on his torso, hand still gripping the remote. 

Lucy didn’t want to wake him up so she put his dinner in the fridge, wrote him a note, which she left on the table next to him, grabbed a brownie from the pan she made last night, and headed home. 

Day 2: 

Tim woke up and found the note Lucy had left. 

She had stopped by with dinner but he had been passed out on the couch. She explained she didn’t want to wake him so she went home, and that dinner was in the fridge. Lucy ended the note by saying she’d be by after work to check on him again. 

_ “Dammit!”  _ he grumbled. 

He’d been waiting to see Lucy all day yesterday, but instead he fell asleep and missed her. Now he’d have to wait a whole day to see her again. 

On the bright side though, he still had the food she brought him last night to eat! 

He made his way to the fridge and found the veggie and rice burrito bowl Lucy had left him. He put it in the microwave to heat up. 

While he waited for his food to warm, his eye caught on the pan of brownies on the stove and he hobbled over to cut a piece, noticing a big chunk missing. He chuckled, assuming Lucy had something to do with the missing brownie. 

He got his food from the microwave, and the brownie, and made his way back to the couch. It didn’t take him long to devour his lunch. 

A couple hours later, Tim decided to try to take a shower. He wrapped his casted leg in a trash bag before carefully stepping into the shower. It didn’t take long for him to regret trying to do it on his own. 

He lost his balance and toppled over, grabbing at the shower curtain, but only managing to pull it down with him. The wall didn’t help anymore than the curtain had, and he hit the floor with a thud. 

He carefully pulled himself upright, turned off the water, grabbed his crutches just outside the shower, and slowly stepped out onto the bath mat. 

He decided then and there that he would never, under any circumstances, tell Lucy about this. She’d kill him if she ever found out. 

He put a pair of basketball shorts and a clean t-shirt on and went back out to the couch. 

What seemed like an eternity, but was actually only about 4 hours later, Lucy walked through the door. 

She immediately noticed the new bruise forming on one of his arms. 

“ _ Uh...what happened there?”  _ she questioned, concerned, pointing towards the reddening spot on his forearm. 

_ “Um. Nothing. It’s fine, I just banged it on something earlier.”  _ he said, completely unconvincingly. 

Lucy glared at him. 

_ “Fine. I tried to take a shower and I lost my balance. I fell, but I’m completely fine. It’s no big deal, Luce. I swear.”  _ he looked at her sheepishly.

Lucy giggled. 

_ “You know I could’ve helped you, right? I might’ve even joined you in said shower. There’s always next time though!”  _ she smiled mischievously. 

“ _ Noted.”  _ Tim smirked.

_ “Actually, I never finished my shower. You wouldn’t want to help me with that would you?”  _ he teased. 

_ “Definitely. It would be my pleasure, Officer Bradford.”  _ she grinned. 

They made their way to the shower, shedding their clothes as they walked through the bedroom. 

Tim and Lucy emerged from the bathroom a short while later. Tim put on another clean t-shirt and pair of shorts before handing Lucy a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt. 

“ _ I wish I didn’t have to get home so soon. Luckily, Jackson is out with Sterling a bit longer, so I’ll have time to get back and change before he gets back so he won’t catch me wearing your clothes!”  _ she said as she got dressed. 

_ “And you can’t stay the night, because?”  _ Tim asked. 

_ “Because, Angela said she might stop by before work, and she still doesn’t know we’re dating. That and the fact that I would get no sleep if I stayed here...because I’d be up all night taking care of you.”  _ she teased. 

She grabbed her pile of clothes off the floor, helped Tim back to the couch, and after a very long, intimate kiss, headed home. 

_ “I don’t know if I’ll be able to stop by the next couple days. Jackson and Sterling are taking me out after work tomorrow and then Angela, Nyla, and I are doing a girls night Thursday after work. But, Jackson is spending the weekend at Sterling’s, so maybe I could spend the weekend with you! I’ll let you know!”  _ she said as she left. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all enjoyed this! As always feel free to leave comments and let me know what you liked and any critiques or whatever you want!! I’ll probably post another chapter or two no later than mid-week!!


	11. The First Week Home (Part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More of Tim’s first week home! More of Lucy taking care of him. Lucy gets a mildly hurt at work, Tim worries about her. Really just more Chenford cuteness and fluff! Enjoy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m posting the next chapter as soon as I post this one, and then all the parts of The First Week home part will be posted. I’m sorry for how long this part has been, but I thought it would be cute to see Lucy taking care of Tim!

**Chapter 11: The First Week Home (Part 2):**

Day 3: 

Angela stopped by with bear claws and cronuts before heading to work. She left half a dozen for him on the counter before heading into work. 

He mostly laid on the couch, watched reruns of Friends and Parks and Rec, scrolled through his phone and occasionally got up for food or a drink, or to stretch his legs. He took a couple of his painkillers and they knocked him out. 

He woke up around 8. Tim missed Lucy. It had barely been 24 hours since he last saw her, but god, he missed her. 

He ate some dinner, took his antibiotics and fell asleep again. 

Day 4: 

Tim woke up around 6 a.m. He fixed himself a cup of coffee and got dressed. 

He knew she wasn’t stopping by today, but Tim secretly hoped Lucy would make a surprise visit on her way into the station. 

He turned on the news and propped his leg up on the pillow on the couch. He decided to text Lucy. 

_ Any chance of you stopping by on your way into work this morning?  _ he sent, adding one of Lucy’s favorite emojis, the puppy-dog eyes. 

She responded almost immediately. 

_ Sorry. I’d love to, but I’ve got to get in early to finish up some paperwork. Maybe I could try to come by at lunch?  _ she added a frowning emoji, followed by the winking, kissing face emoji. 

He sighed. He was disappointed. But he settled for maybe seeing Lucy on her lunch break instead. 

_ Lunch it is then. You better bring something good! Be safe! Love you.  _ he texted back

_ Love you too! See you at lunch.  _ She ended the conversation. 

It was a long 6 hours, but 12:00 rolled around and Tim anxiously awaited Lucy’s arrival. He couldn’t wait to see her. He was also starving. 

He checked the clock. It was 12:10. He had a feeling she wasn’t coming. And sure enough, he heard his phone ding with a text. 

_ Hey. Sorry, I’m running a bit late. Had to get some stitches. Just leaving the ER. Be there soon! XOXO.  _ Lucy’s text read. 

Tim’s heart plummeted as he read the text. His stomach churned. What the hell had happened, he wondered. 

Lucy walked through his door around 12:40. She had several scrapes and cuts on her arms and her right forearm was bandaged, covering what he assumed were stitches. 

_ “Boot...Lucy! What the hell happened? Are you sure you’re ok? Come here!”  _ he exclaimed.

_ “I’m fine. I just got in a bit of a scuffle with the suspect I was arresting. He pulled a knife and slashed my arm. But seriously, it’s no big deal babe, I’m fine. Really, you should see the other guy!”  _ she joked.  _ “Hey! I brought poke!”  _

She set the bag down on the coffee table before sitting down next to him on the couch, leaning over to give him a huge kiss. 

Tim still had a concerned look on his face. 

_ “Babe! I’m fine. I swear. I handled the guy, ok? It’s fine.”  _ she assured him. 

_ “You riding with anyone today?”  _ he asked. 

  
  


_ “Yeah, Angela. And you know as well as me how good a cop she is. There’s no one better I could be riding with...other than you, obviously!”  _ she smiled. 

_ “Wait. How’d you explain bringing lunch to me to Angela?” _ he asked, a tinge of worry in his voice. 

_ “Oh. I just told her I was dropping off lunch to you, which I did. I didn’t mention any of the other “details.”  _ she grinned  _ “and if we want to keep her from getting suspicious, I should probably go.”  _ she added. 

They quickly ate their lunch, shared a nice, long kiss, and Lucy headed back to work. 

Tim took his antibiotics and painkillers and fell asleep. He woke up a few hours later, groggy. Despite the painkillers, his leg was throbbing and achy, and so was his head and back. This was the most pain he’d been in since waking up in the hospital. 

He got up and tried to stretch out and reposition himself on the couch. It helped a bit, but nearly his entire body hurt. 

Tim checked the time, saw it was about 4:00, determined it had been long enough between doses and took another couple of painkillers. 

He turned the tv on and searched for something to watch. The only thing he found that even kind of peaked his interest was some random movie he vaguely remembered seeing good reviews about when it was first released. 

He watched the movie and started to watch another when he passed out again. This time, he didn’t wake up or even move until late the next morning. 

Day 5: 

It was nearly 11:00 when he finally woke up. He’d slept for over 15 hours. 

Tim groaned in pain as he stretched and started to sit up. His head and back didn’t hurt nearly as bad as they did yesterday, but his leg was still throbbing and really sore. 

He grabbed his crutches off the floor and went to the kitchen to get an ice pack and a glass of water. He decided to fix a pot of coffee while he was there too. 

He tossed the ice pack to the couch, grabbed his coffee and glass of water and went back to his spot on the couch, where he put his leg up and gently placed the ice pack behind him, leaning his sore back against it. He thought about taking some painkillers, but decided to try to tough it out, not wanting to be wiped out when Lucy came over later. 

Tim spent most of the day adjusting and readjusting his leg, trying to ease the pain. He was so tempted to just take his medicine, but kept fighting the temptation. 

He decided to try to take a short nap instead. 

Lucy left work early to surprise Tim. She got to his house around 6:00. He was sitting on the couch, restlessly. Discomfort was evident on his face and confirmed as he winced in pain getting up to greet her. 

_ “Tim? What’s wrong? Are you in pain? And don’t you dare lie to me!”  _ she asked him, worriedly. 

_ “I’m fine Luce, really. My leg has been hurting a bit, but I’ll live, I promise. So don’t worry about me, ok.”  _ he assured her, leaning in and kissing her. 

_ “Have you taken any painkillers? They might help.”  _ Lucy suggested. 

_ “Yeah. I took some yesterday and they completely knocked me out, so I didn’t take them today. I wanted to be able to stay awake with you tonight.”  _ Tim told her. 

_ “If you’re in pain, you need to take your medicine. You are not going to spend the night in pain on account of me, got it? Also, it’s fine if you fall asleep on me, because I make no guarantees that I won’t fall asleep on you, so just take your medicine, ok?”  _ Lucy responded. 

Tim finally took his medicine and then they ordered pizza for dinner. 

Half an hour later the pizza arrived and Tim and Lucy devoured almost all of it in no time. 

Lucy cuddled up next to Tim on the couch, he wrapped his arm around her and she convinced him to watch Love, Actually. They both fell asleep about 20 minutes into it

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m posting the next chapter right after this. After that I’ll try to post a couple more chapter this weekend because will few like I haven’t been updating enough. After that I don’t know if I’ll post any update until after next week because I’ve got a bunch of Final exams and projects due, but I’ll definitely update again fairly quickly after next week. Anyways, enjoy and please leave comments, feedback, etc, if you want! Also, thank you so much for the comments and feed back throughout this story! I’ve read them all and I really appreciate them!!


	12. Chapter 12: The First Week Home (Part 3)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yay! It’s the last part of Tim’s first week home after the accident!! It’s the weekend and Lucy is staying over at Tim’s. Fun, wild, craziness ensues, as well as a prank courtesy of Tim! They also make a big decision and take a big step in their relationship!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is quite a bit longer than the last 2, but I think you all are going to love it! Lucy and Tim spend the weekend together and it’s mostly just a bunch of random, fun, cute Chenford scenes again! Also, something big relationship-wise happens towards the end and I think it’s something everyone will like! Enjoy!

**Chapter 12: The First Week Home (Part 3)**

Day 6: 

Lucy woke up curled into Tim on the couch, her head resting in the crook of his elbow. He had his arm wrapped around her and they were both snuggled together. 

She tried to carefully untangle herself so she could get up and make a pot of coffee. She almost did it without waking Tim, but she accidentally kicked his leg.   


He shot upright, reaching for his leg, moaning in pain

Lucy immediately realized what she had done. 

_ “Oh my god! Tim! I’m so sorry! Are you ok? Sorry, sorry, sorry!”  _ she cried out, almost in tears about the fact that she had unintentionally hurt him. 

Tim saw how upset Lucy was. 

_ “Hey. Lucy. I’m fine. It’s ok. It really didn’t hurt that much. That’s what the cast is there for. I think I was more surprised than anything. I don’t usually get woken up by being kicked you know.”  _ he smiled  _ “Now come here, boot.”  _ he told her, arms outstretched to hug her. 

Lucy fell into his arms. 

_ “I’m sorry. I was just trying to get up to make you some coffee.”  _ she mumbled, annoyed at herself. 

Tim laughed. 

_ “I guess it’s just a good thing my leg’s already broken.”  _ he teased. 

_ Shut up! It’s not funny! I thought I really hurt you, you jerk!”  _ she giggled, shoving herself off his chest, getting up again and finally making her way to the kitchen. 

Tim laughed. 

_ “Oh, come on. Kojo has kicked me harder than you did. And he got me in the face…”  _ he paused and off Lucy’s puzzled look he added “ _ it’s a long story.”  _

_ “Oh? I’d love to hear it sometime!”  _ she told him, trying to stifle her laughter. 

She turned the coffee pot on and a few minutes later it was ready and she poured them each a cup, adding plenty of cream and sugar to hers. 

She carefully carried both mugs back over to the couch and handed Tim his before sitting down with her own. 

_ “Owwww! Dammit!”  _ Lucy shrieked, startling Tim. She had spilled her coffee all down the front of herself. 

_ “Boot, what the hell?”  _ he asked, his inner T.O briefly coming out as he spoke, before he started laughing. 

_ “It’s not funny!”  _ Lucy whined, a small smile on her face  _ “That coffee was still really hot! And now I’ll have to go take a shower.”  _ she pouted. 

_ “Well, I mean I could join you if that would make it any better.”  _ Tim grinned. 

_ “Yeah, because that went soooo well last time. _ ” she teased. 

Tim rolled his eyes. 

“ _ I just don’t see how that was so bad.”  _ he said innocently. 

_ “Mmhm. Because you trying to balance on one leg and almost taking us down mid-shower was definitely a great time.”  _ she giggled. 

_ “Fine. I’ll just sit out here and watch…”  _ he quickly searched the guide before picking a channel “.. _.uh...House Hunters and wait for you then.”  _

She rolled her eyes and went to take a shower. 

Tim waited a few minutes before going to his bedroom. 

He leaned his crutches against the bed, and slowly made his way to the bathroom. He grabbed a cup off the sink and filled it with cold water. Lucy squealed as the water turned cold. Then Tim reached over the top of the shower and dumped the cup of cold water on her. Lucy shrieked as it hit her. 

_ “AH! TIM! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT? WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?”  _ she screeched. 

Tim just laughed. 

_ “I seriously forgot the water would turn cold when I turned the sink on! _ ” he was wheezing. 

_ “Right.”  _ Lucy giggled. 

_ “I’m not kidding. I was just gonna dump the cold water on you. The water going cold was just an added bonus. It was really a twofer if you ask me Luce.”  _ he shrugged, still chuckling. 

Lucy turned off the water, grabbed her towel and stepped out onto the bath mat, rolling her eyes when she saw Tim standing in front of her the smuggest grin on his face. 

_ “You’re so proud of yourself, aren’t you?”  _ she teasingly scoffed

_ “Payback’s a bitch you know!”  _ she smiled menacingly. 

Lucy walked into the bedroom and began rummaging through Tim’s drawers for some clothes. She had pajamas in the bag she had packed for the weekend at Tim’s, but she’d much rather wear a comfy pair of his sweatpants and one of his oversized, (on her at least), shirts. 

_ “You know, you could leave some stuff here if you want to. Maybe some pajamas, a few changes of clothes, toothbrush, nothing major, just some of the basics.”  _ Tim suggested, watching her finally grab his favorite sweatpants and an old Rams shirt. 

_ “But then, I wouldn’t get to wear these amazingly comfortable sweats of yours.”  _ she replied, pulling the shirt on over her head  _ “But seriously, that’s a good idea. I’ll consider it, but only if you leave some stuff at my place too!”  _ she conceded. 

_ “Ok. Deal. Now, let’s go order some lunch and then we can binge-watch some Brooklyn 99.”  _ Tim responded  _ “And yes, despite how blatantly inaccurate the policing is on that show, it’s still pretty funny!”  _ he added, off her look. 

45 minutes later they were cuddled up on the couch eating the Thai they had ordered, re-watching season 1 of Brooklyn 99. 

They kept watching until Lucy noticed how late it was getting and they went to bed, falling asleep as soon as their heads hit their pillows. 

Day 7:

Lucy had been awake for almost an hour, staring aimlessly at the ceiling. 

_ “Tim?”  _ she whispered softly, waking him from his sleep. 

He rolled over to look at her and saw the conflicted look on her face. 

_ “Lucy? What’s wrong?”  _ he asked, concerned. 

She let her head fall to the side, facing him. 

_ “Never mind. It’s stupid. Sorry to wake you up.”  _ she told him. 

_ “No. There’s clearly something on your mind. You woke me up for a reason. Just talk to me Lucy. You know nothing you say could ever be stupid.”  _ Tim coaxed her. 

Lucy hesitated a second and then sighed. 

_ “Ok, fine. I know we haven’t been dating for very long, but I was just thinking about how much I hate trying to hide this from everyone. I mean, I love it being just our little secret, but I don’t want to have to keep sneaking around anymore.I think we should at least tell Jackson and Angela. Maybe John and Nyla?”  _

Tim yawned and stretched his arm around Lucy. He pulled her closer. 

_ “I mean, if you’re really sure you’re ready, then let’s do it. Let’s tell them, Lucy. But, I’m not quite ready to tell Grey, if that’s ok.”  _ he told her. 

_ “Yeah, no. We are definitely not telling Sergeant Grey. Not yet, at least.”  _ Lucy agreed. She started kissing his chest and began moving towards his mouth.

_ “What do you think about getting out of the house for the day? I know you wouldn’t be able to get in the water, but we could get lunch and head to Topanga Beach, spend the day there. Just us. Together. Alone. All day, relaxing on the beach. Wanna do it?”  _ Lucy asked, continuing her trail of kisses up Tim’s neck, inching closer to his lips. 

_ “Mmmh. Sounds great!” _ Tim agreed just as Lucy’s lips finally reached his. 

Lucy gave him a short kiss before rolling over to get up and ready for the day ahead. 

She searched through her bag, trying to decide on what to wear. 

_ “Uggh. Dammit!”  _ Lucy exclaimed, clearly annoyed. 

_ “Lucy. Is everything ok? What’s wrong?”  _ Tim inquired. 

She huffed. 

_ “I wasn’t planning on going to the beach, or out of the house at all this weekend, so I didn’t really bring any nice clothes to wear. I didn’t bring my swimsuit either. We’ll have to run by my apartment on our way.”  _ she explained. 

Tim shrugged. 

_ “Ok. That’s not a big deal. It’s only like 15 minutes from here. I think you’re actually closer to the beach than I am. I can get my Rams shirt and sweatpants, that you borrowed, back while I’m there too.”  _

Lucy nodded. 

_ “Yeah. You’re right. I just...it’s just...I just get a bit over dramatic sometimes. I don’t know if you’ve ever noticed that.”  _ she giggled. 

Tim burst out laughing. Before he could say anything, Lucy added  _ “But then again, you can be insanely over dramatic at times too.”  _ She grinned. 

Tim was shocked. He scoffed, jokingly. 

_ “What? When have I EVER been over dramatic? Name one time Lucy Chen.”  _

Her jaw dropped and she scoffed back at him. 

_ “Um, ok. How about the time you slammed on the brakes, literally brought the shop to a screeching halt and yelled “I’ve been shot!!” and then proceeded, like a minute later to also yell “Now I’m dead.” just to see if I knew where we were.”  _ she couldn’t control her laughter as she recalled her first day of field training with Tim. 

_ “Hey! I was trying to teach you a lesson!”  _ Tim said, defending himself. 

_ “Yes. By being over dramatic.”  _ Lucy laughed. 

Tim shrugged again. 

_ “It worked though, didn’t it?”  _ he smirked. 

Lucy rolled her eyes. 

_ “You know what...whatever...now get up and get ready to go. I’m leaving in 20. With or without you.”  _ Lucy gave him a look. 

_ “Ok. But you know you’d never leave without me.”  _ Tim shot back at her. 

Lucy rolled her eyes again and headed to the kitchen to make some coffee. 

15 minutes later they were on their way to Lucy’s apartment. 

They walked through the door and were greeted by Jackson laying on the couch. 

_ “Ooh! Lucy! Is this the “boyfriend” whose place you’re staying the weekend at?”  _ Jackson asked, seeing the absolute shock on both Tim and Lucy’s faces. 

Tim and Lucy shot each other a knowing look. Tim nodded at her and grabbed her hand. 

Lucy took a deep breath. Tim squeezed her hand tighter. 

_ “Actually, yes. We’ve been trying to keep it a secret, but I think we’re ready to tell people now. So, Tim and I are dating. We started the night we all went out to celebrate the end of our rookie year. He’s who I went home with that night. But listen, we haven’t told anybody else yet, ok?”  _ Lucy told him. 

Jackson had a huge smile on his face. He was so overjoyed for them. 

_ “It was honestly inevitable.”  _ he began “ _ You two have more chemistry than a science lab. I’m really happy for you both!”  _ he looked pointedly at Tim “ _ If you ever hurt her though, I’ll kick your ass.”  _

Tim glared at him for a moment before his face softened. 

_ “Listen West, let me make a couple things clear: a.) I would  _ **_never_ ** _ hurt Lucy. And I think you know that. And b.) You would kick my ass? Oookay.”  _ he said, teasing Jackson with the last part. 

Jackson laughed.

_ “Seriously. I am so happy for you guys! I’ve been Team Chenford since the first day you two rode together! The Chenford slow burn has honestly kind of become a whole thing at the station now. Everyone pretty much knew you two would end up together and there have been bets placed on when it would finally happen.”  _ he grinned. 

_ “I’m sorry. Team...Chenford?”  _ Lucy and Tim both immediately questioned.

_ “You know, like Chen and Bradford, but combined? Chenford?” He _ nervously explained. 

_ “Well duh. That’s kind of super obvious. I just didn’t realize you...and apparently the entire Mid-Wilshire Police Deprtment, had a “ship” name for us.”  _ Lucy laughed.  _ “Anyways, I’m gonna go get my swimsuit on and grab some nicer clothes. I’ll be right back.”  _ she said, turning and heading for her bedroom. 

As soon as she disappeared into her room, Jackson looked at Tim. 

_ “I meant what I said earlier, but I know you’d ever hurt her and I can see how much you love and genuinely care about her. But, just know, she deserves everything, and so much more. She cares about you, more than you’ll ever know, she trusts you with her life, and I can tell how much she loves you. Lucy Chen is a beautiful, strong, independent, queen, Tim Bradford, you better never forget that and you better treat her as such!”  _ he told him.  _ “I also meant it when I said how happy I was for you guys. I can’t wait to see what the future has in store for you two.”  _

Tim started to respond when Lucy came back out. 

_ “Hey...uh, am I interrupting something?”  _ she asked, thrown off by the serious vibe she was getting from the room. 

Tim and Jackson shook their heads. 

_ “Uh, no. Jackson was just telling me again how excited he is for us.”  _ he half-lied. 

Lucy shrugged, still slightly suspicious. 

_ “Ok. Well, are you ready to go?”  _ she asked. 

_ “Yeah.”  _ Tim nodded as he headed for the door. 

_ “Ok. See you tonight Jackson!”  _ she gleefully shouted as she and Tim walked out the door. 

They got in the car and drove in silence for a couple minutes. 

Lucy broke the silence. 

_ “We could FaceTime Angela on the way and tell her. You know, since we’ve told my best friend, we should probably tell your best friend too.”  _

Tim unlocked his phone, hit Angela’s name from his favorites, and tapped the FaceTime video button. 

It only rang a couple times before she answered. 

_ “Tim? You know how to FaceTime? Now I’ve seen everything...wait? Are you in the car? Who’re you with?”  _ she quickly went from joking to dead serious. 

Lucy chimed in. 

_ “Hi Angela!”  _ she said in a singsong voice  _ “How’re you and Wes?”  _

A puzzled look fell across Angela’s face before it clicked with her. 

_ “Lucy?”  _ she said, shocked  _ “Tim! What’s going on? And why does Lucy look like she’s ready for a day at the beach?.......Are you two finally...?”  _ she asked, slowly piecing things together. 

Tim took a breath. 

_ “Well, you figured that out pretty quick. Yes. Lucy and I are dating. And we’re on our way to Topanga Beach for the day, which answers your first question. We’ve only been dating for maybe a week and a half, but we didn’t want to keep sneaking around behind everyone’s backs. So there, now you know. Lucy and I are almost to the beach now, so, uh, yeah. I’ll talk to you later. Bye.”  _ he said, awkwardly, barely getting the last word in before hanging up. 

Lucy was laughing hysterically. Tim glared at her. 

_ “So, uh, yeah.”  _ she giggled, mocking Tim “ _ That went well.”  _ she teased. 

_ “Not another word. You never speak of this again, got it?”  _ he replied, slightly embarrassed. 

They stopped, got lunch and finally made it to the beach. They found a quiet, secluded spot and settled in for the day. 

They ate lunch, Lucy swam for awhile, Tim took a quick nap, they built a sandcastle, sipped mocktails (which Lucy had gotten from a nearby tiki bar), searched for seashells (mostly Lucy, but Tim had searched from where he was sitting), and ended the day watching the sun set over the ocean in a vibrant array of reds, oranges, and purples. 

Lucy drove Tim back to his house, made sure he got settled, grabbed her stuff and headed home. 

_ “Today was perfect. And I’m so glad Jackson and Angela know. It’s going to be nice not having to hide this anymore.”  _ she said softly before leaving.  _ “Tim?”  _

_ “Yeah Luce?”  _ He looked at her lovingly. 

She grinned. 

_ “I love you so much.”  _ she half whispered. 

_ “I love you too Lucy.”  _ Tim responded just before she walked out the door. 

As he watched her leave, he made up his mind. They may have only been “together” for a couple weeks, but they had been together much, much longer. And he had fallen completely and madly in love with Lucy. He never wanted to spend another second apart from her. He was going to marry Lucy Chen. There was no doubt in his heart, she was the one, the love of his life, his soulmate and he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. As long as he was with Lucy, he was home. 

And just like that, Tim was planning how to ask her, the one person he loved the most in the world to spend the rest of her life with him. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhhh! So Jackson and Angela know now (but aren’t surprised in the least lol!) What’d you all think? How’d you like their big reveal to Jackson and Angela? And that Tim/Jackson scene? How did you feel about that! I really hope you liked it, because I absolutely LOVED writing it! Anyways, big chapters coming up soon, including a road trip!! Please leave comments, feedback, suggestions, etc if you want!!


	13. The First Weekend (Part 1): Road Trip

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s time jump time! We’re jumping 2 months ahead to Tim and Lucy’s first weekend away together, but first...a Chenford road trip!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had tons of fun writing this chapter, especially a couple parts in particular that I’m pretty sure will be fairly obvious when you read this! I really hope you all enjoy this!

**Chapter 13: The First Weekend (Part 1): Road Trip**

(2 Months Later)

It had been two months since the accident and Tim was almost back to normal with the exception of his leg. He’d be stuck with the cast and crutches for another month at least. But, he was back to work on light-duty. 

He wasn’t too thrilled about it, but he did prefer at least being at work over sitting at home all day and Lucy had been volunteering to sit on desk duty with him a couple times a week, so it couldn’t be too terrible. 

Everybody now knew they were dating and were incredibly happy for them. Lucy had thought it was hilarious when she found out that Jackson and Angela had started a station-wide pool on when she and Tim would finally get together. 

_ “It was honestly inevitable. You two have more chemistry than a science lab. I’m really happy for you both! If you ever hurt her though, I’ll kick his ass.”  _ he had told them. 

She laughed at the memory. 

She had also moved in to Tim’s a few weeks ago and they both were loving it! 

Now she and Tim were getting ready to leave for their first long weekend away together. 

They had the next 3 days off, Jackson was taking care of Kojo for them and had lent them his new car to drive (since Tim had yet to get a new one, and Lucy’s definitely wouldn’t make the trip), and they were headed to Lake Tahoe. 

It was an almost 8 hour drive, but Tim’s doctors had cleared it, with the only catch being that they’d stop every couple hours so he could get out and stretch his leg. 

Tim had set up the entire trip. He booked a private, lakeside cabin, made dinner reservations, booked a hot-air balloon ride, a sightseeing cruise, and a guided tour around the lake. He even planned a short hike

to a gorgeous waterfall he had shown her pictures of, to end the trip. 

They were both anxious to get there and start their weekend. 

  
  


The first leg of their trip was uneventful. They drove a few hours, stopped at a rest area, Tim got out and stretched, Lucy took a bathroom break and got a bunch of snacks from one of the several vending machines and they were back on their way. 

A couple hours later, Lucy turned on the radio, which she had connected her phone to over Bluetooth. 

She had gotten it set up to the playlist she had made especially for this road trip while she was waiting on Tim after she got back from the bathroom at the rest area. The first song that came on was Van Morrison’s iconic  _ “Brown-Eyed Girl.”  _

Tim smiled as Lucy sang every word of it. He couldn’t stop staring at her. He was taking it all in. Tim had never been happier in his life than he was at this very moment. It was just him and  **his** brown-eyed girl. 

Lucy glanced over and caught him staring. She gave him a funny look and giggled. 

_ “What? My singing wasn’t really that terrible, right?”  _ she smiled. 

He laughed. 

_ “No. You’ve got the voice of an angel Luce. I’m just...taking it all in….taking you in. God Lucy, you are so beautiful, you know that? I am the luckiest man alive. I love you so much.”  _ said softly, almost dreamily. 

Lucy was speechless. She just smiled. 

_ “Awwww! I love you too! And I cannot wait to get to the lake and get our weekend started! It’s going to be amazing, I can feel it, it’s going to be absolutely amazing.”  _ she finally responded.

They stopped again about an hour later at a little roadside diner to get a late lunch and let Tim stretch his leg again. There were still about 2 hours left until they got to the cabin. 

They were so close yet so far away. Lucy had barely put the car in park before Tim was out of the car and hobbling as fast as he could to the bathroom. 

Lucy watched him disappear through the entrance as she got out of the car and followed him into the restaurant. 

She found a table and sat down. She had just picked up the menu when the waiter approached. 

_ “Hi! Welcome to Thomas’ Family Diner. Can I get you something to drink?”  _ he asked enthusiastically. 

_ “Um, Could I please get a coffee, cream and sugar, and a glass of water. And then my boyfriend will be back in a second, but he’ll have a lemonade I guess.”  _ Lucy answered. 

_ “Ok! I’ll be right back with those!”  _ the waiter smiled as he swiveled around and rushed away to get the drinks. 

Tim finally made his way to the table and sat down. 

A couple minutes the waiter came back around with their drinks. 

_ “Since he just sat down, I’ll go ahead and give you a few more minutes to look over the menu! I’ll come back around in a few minutes, ok?”  _ he told them.

Lucy and Tim looked at their menus for a few minutes before Lucy slid out of the booth and stood up. 

_ “Hey, I’ve gotta run to the bathroom. If the waiter comes to take our order before I get back just order me whatever you think I’d like. _

__ Tim gave her a look. 

_ What? I can’t decide what I want! Now, I haven’t used the bathroom in like 4 hours, so if you’d please excuse me!”  _ she was anxiously eyeing the bathroom. 

Tim laughed and gestured towards the restrooms. 

No sooner had Lucy walked away did the waiter come back around. 

_ “Oh, I can come back in a couple minutes!”  _ he exclaimed, noticing Lucy’s absence from the table. 

_ “Uh, no. It’s ok. She’ll have a veggie burger with fries, extra pickles, and I’ll have the BLT, hold the mayo.”  _ Tim responded. 

_ “Ok. Veggie burger with fries, extra pickles and a BLT, hold the Mayo? I’ll have that out soon!”  _ he pivoted on his foot and hurried to put the order in. 

Tim sat alone for a couple more minutes before Lucy finally came back. 

_ “All better now?”  _ Tim teased. 

“ _ Yeah. Sorry, I didn’t mean to take so long. I was missing Cojo, so I called Jackson to check on him!”  _ she explained. 

_ “So you called Jackson, from a diner bathroom, because you were missing the dog you saw literally 6 hours ago?”  _ he chuckled.

_ “Don’t give me that look!  _ Lucy frowned  _ “And quit making fun of me! You get to see Cojo ALL THE TIME!”  _ she defensively giggled. 

_ “Relax Lucy! I’m just teasing! You know I always have to give you a hard time!”  _ he smiled before lowering his voice, genuinely concerned  _ “So? How’s my boy doing?”  _ he asked. 

Lucy’s eyes went wide as she gasped, a sole growing across her face. 

_ “Tim Bradford! I KNEW you were a big softie!”  _ she squealed  _ “And Cojo is great! Jackson said he took him to the park and then they went for a long walk! He said Cojo was having a blast!”  _

Tim started to say something, but paused when he saw their food coming out. 

_ “Veggie burger with fries, extra pickles for you.”  _ the waiter said as he placed the plate in front of Lucy. 

“ _ And a BLT, hold the Mayo for you!”  _ he continued, placing the other plate in front of Tim. 

Lucy’s face lit up and a huge smile grew across it. 

_ “Awwwwww...Tim! You remembered! This is why you’re my favorite! God, how are you so perfect?”  _ she exclaimed. 

  
  


_ “Of course I remembered. You were the only person I’ve ever known that ordered the same thing, like, everyday. I made the mistake of getting your order wrong once, that time I forgot the extra pickles? You didn’t let it go for almost a week. So now, I make damn sure I remember your order! Besides, there’s nothing more I love than making the best rookie I’ve ever trained happy!”  _ he grinned.

Lucy wasn’t sure how it was possible, but she had just fallen even more in love with Tim. 

But, she was also in love with the veggie burger in front of her, and she was starving, so she started eating, as did Tim. 

They quickly finished their food, paid the bill, left a generous tip and got back on the road. 

A few more hours of road-trip singalongs with Lucy,(in which she absolutely nailed Piano Man, followed up immediately with Candy by Mandy Moore), an intense round of the ABC road sign game, and a quick nap for Tim later, they pulled into the cabin. It was about 8:00 and daylight was starting to fade, but they could still see the cabin, in all its beauty. 

It was gorgeous, nestled right next to the lake and surrounded by trees. There were cabins on either side of them, but the trees gave them plenty of privacy. 

They unloaded everything from the car before taking a short walk around to explore the cabin and watch the sun set over the lake. 

_ “You’re an expert on those crutches Tim! I’ve never seen someone master walking on crutches. How are you ever going to get used to walking without them in a few months?”  _ Lucy joked as they made their way back to the cabin, Tim several feet in front of her. 

_ “I think I’ll manage. You wanna give them a try boot?”  _ he asked as he turned, holding one out to her as he leaned fully against the other. 

She grabbed the crutch and Tim handed her the other one, carefully balancing on his good leg. 

They were way too tall for her. Her legs barely touched the ground as she leaned on them and began slowly and shakily making her way towards Tim. She only made it a few steps before she and the crutches toppled over. 

She fell to the ground, laughing hysterically. 

“ _ You good?”  _ Tim asked, smirking. 

_ “I’m fine. But you should probably take these away from me and never, under any circumstances let me try to use them again!”  _ she laughed as she stood back up and gave them back to Tim, who looked like he was about to fall over, himself. 

They walked the rest of the way back to the cabin, went inside, snuggled on the couch, and started to watch a movie. Lucy passed out on Tim’s shoulder halfway through the movie. Tim fell asleep soon after. And that’s where they spent the first night of their first weekend away together. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I was going to post a new chapter this weekend, but decided to post one now instead, because I have a project and an essay due Monday, and a paper due Sunday, so odds are I’m likely going to be really busy this weekend and won’t have time to update, so here we are! Anyways, enjoy, feel free to leave comments/suggestions if you want and I’ll try to update maybe mid-week next week or next weekend at the latest!


	14. The First Weekend (Part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s the first full day of Tim and Lucy’s weekend away together and they’ve got lots of plans! There’s a small hiccup when someone unfortunately finds out they get motion-sickness on boats, but a hot-air balloon ride, dinner, and some flirty Chenford fun more than make up for it!! Warning...lots of Chenford/Tucy cuteness in this chapter!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m finally done with finals, so here’s a new chapter to celebrate!! It’s a little longer than I remembered it being, so I’m only posting the one chapter for now, but I’m planning to post at least another chapter or two this weekend, and hopefully finish up the story before Christmas so I can start posting the other fic I’ve been working on! Anyways, enjoy this chapter!!

**Chapter 14: The First Weekend (Part 2)**

Tim and Lucy woke up in pure bliss. The first night had been incredible and now they were both excited to start their first day at the lake. 

Tim held Lucy, his arms wrapped around her torso. 

_“So, what’ve you got planned for today? Because I’m sure I could add a few things before we get up.”_ Lucy whispered. 

Tim kissed her. 

_“Let’s see._ ” he began, kissing her after every few words. “ _We’ve got the sightseeing cruise around the lake, followed by a hot air balloon ride, all capped off with our dinner reservation at one of Lake Tahoe’s top restaurants._

Lucy frowned. Her “plans” would have to wait. 

_But, we’ve got some time before we have to head to the marina if you want to “enlighten” me a little on_ **_your_ ** _plans.”_ Tim added, his voice low and gruff. 

Lucy smiled, somewhat seductively, before rolling over and pulling Tim close. 

A little while later, they both flopped back over, hand-in-hand, on their backs, letting out a heavy breath, sweat beading down their faces and bodies. They laid in silence for a moment. 

_“Mmm. I guess we should probably get up and get ready. We still have to get breakfast before we go on our cruise.”_ Lucy sighed. 

Tim nodded in agreement before reaching for his crutches. 

Lucy decided to take a shower. Meanwhile, Tim grabbed Lucy’s phone off the charger and ordered breakfast on her DoorDash app. He decided on waffles, eggs, and fruit. 

The food arrived just as Lucy finished up getting ready. She walked out of the bedroom just as Tim closed the front door. 

_“Hey. Who was that?”_ she asked. 

Tim turned around, revealing the bag of takeout boxes. He smiled. 

_“Breakfast.”_ he answered _“I hope you like waffles as much as you like pancakes!”_ he continued. 

_“Ooooh! Waffles are my other favorite breakfast food!”_ Lucy exclaimed. 

They ate their breakfast and decided to head out early to check out the area before they went to the marina. 

_“Wow. It is absolutely gorgeous here! It almost makes me never want to leave! What do you think babe?”_ Lucy said, admiring the scenery as she drove around. 

_“Yes. You are.”_ Tim responded completely oblivious to the scenery Lucy was so in awe of and the last part of what she just said. 

She looked over at him, confused. 

_“Ummm. What?”_ she asked _“And why are you looking at me like that?”_ she grinned. 

He shook himself out of his daze. 

_“Huh? I thought...uh...never mind. So, what were you saying?”_ he responded, flustered, something that rarely happened to Tim.

_“Hey. Where did you go?”_ Lucy giggled. 

_“You know, just...taking in the scenery”_ he smiled. 

_“Oh yeah? How exactly could you be “taking in the scenery” when you’ve been staring at me the whole time?”_ she smirked. 

Tim smiled. 

_“I was taking in the most gorgeous scenery.”_

Lucy rolled her eyes. 

_“I’m serious Luce. I was looking out the window, staring in absolute awe at the lake and the trees and the mountains. Then I looked back over at you and I couldn’t take my eyes off of you. I forgot all about the lake and the trees and the mountains. Because even those aren’t as absolutely, stunningly, gorgeous as you. Nothing is more beautiful than you Lucy Chen.”_

Lucy was speechless. She just kept driving. 

A few minutes later, she finally broke the silence. 

_“You are something else, you know that Tim Bradford. I never pegged you as such a romantic. But I kind of really love it. Almost as much as I love you.”_

She wanted to kiss him so bad, but she also didn’t want to wreck Jackson’s car, so she settled for holding Tim’s hand instead. _“I definitely owe you a kiss later.”_ she smiled. 

They were both so in the zone that Lucy almost missed the turn into the parking lot at the marina.

Tim suddenly pulled his hand away and motioned towards an entrance on the left side of the road that they were about to pass. 

_Oh. Hey! Turn into this parking lot! The marina is just right over there.”_ his sudden outburst surprised Lucy. 

She gasped as she slammed the brakes and hit her turn signal. 

_“Geez! You’ve gotta give me a little more warning! And please, don’t just start shouting. You know I still startle easily sometimes!”_ She took a few deep breaths to calm herself down. 

_“Shit. I’m so sorry Lucy. I didn’t mean to scare you. I got distracted and next thing I know, we’re about to pass the parking lot. I was just trying to get your attention in time. You ok?”_ he apologized profusely. 

_“Yeah, no. You’re ok. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have gotten this startled by you simply telling me to turn. I’m working on it with my therapist, I used my breathing techniques and I’m ok now though. I refuse to let Caleb and what he did to me control me anymore.”_ she scolded him before letting out a small sigh. “ _Now, is this close enough? Will you be ok getting to the boat from here with your crutches? I can try to find a closer spot if you want me to.”_ Lucy asked, the tension across her face easing and her face softening again. 

Tim looked her up and down before looking out the window. _”Uh, yeah. This is fine. You’re forgetting, I’m a pro on the crutches.”_ he joked, trying to lighten the mood as he reach for them on the backseat. 

_“Right. I completely forgot!”_ Lucy gasped before she started giggling. She noticed Tim struggling with the crutches on the back seat. 

_“If you can be patient for a minute and let me get out of the car, I’ll get those for you!”_ she teased as she unbuckled her seatbelt and stared getting out of the car. 

Tim opened his door as Lucy walked around to get his crutches for him. 

She had barely gotten the door open before Tim was out of the car, balancing on one leg, hand on the door, steadying himself. 

_“Impatient much, are we?”_ Lucy quipped. 

He started hobbling away on his crutches as he shouted. 

_“Not impatient. I just really have to pee!”_ he admitted. 

Lucy smirked. 

_“Wow. Look who can’t hold their water now!”_ she teased. 

_“Ha ha ha. But you see, the difference between you and me is that I’m not gonna get my belt and gun stolen as a result.”_ he shot back 

Lucy scoffed and rolled her eyes. 

_“C’mon. I_ **_know_ ** _it was you that snuck in and took it. It wasn’t too hard to figure that out.”_ she smirked. 

“ _Why Officer Chen! I have no idea what you’re talking about!”_ he gasped, barely managing to hide a smug grin and stifle his subsequent laughter. 

_“Ugh. You were such a...mmmh...never mind!”_ Lucy huffed, cutting herself off. 

_“No, please, finish what you were saying. I was such a what?”_ Tim smirked, crossing his arms as he stopped his mad dash to the bathroom and turned to face her, eyes icy and deadly serious. 

_“Uh. Um. Such a great T.O. The best I could have asked for!”_ Lucy nervously fumbled on her words, carefully trying to remove her foot from her mouth. 

_“Relax bo...Lucy. I’m kidding. I know you were going to say I was a pain in your ass, which is true. I was, and you told me that...on several occasions.”_ he laughed. 

Lucy’s.face brightened. Then it fell again when she checked the time. 

“ _Oh shoot. The cruise leaves in like 5 minutes. We need to get over there! C’mon babe!”_ she exclaimed, waving Tim on as she rushed ahead of him. 

**1 Hour Later**

Tim and Lucy made their way off the boat and back to the car. 

Tim wouldn’t look at Lucy. 

He couldn’t bring himself to, so he kept his eyes staring straight ahead, never stealing so much as a glance over at her. His face was flushed and his ears bright red. He gripped his crutches tightly, fingers fidgeting around.

Neither of them spoke a word. The awkwardness was palpable and the tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife. Tim was humiliated. 

Then, Lucy’s soft, compassionate, almost angelic voice broke the silence as the both got in the car. 

_“You couldn’t have known that you get motion sickness on boats Tim. Seriously. Although you could have tried to aim over the side and into the water, or you know...anywhere but directly at me before you projectile vomited.”_ Lucy giggled, gesturing at her sundress, which she had done her best to wash off in the bathroom before their early return to the dock. 

Tim groaned, still embarrassed, but comforted ever so slightly by Lucy’s playful jab and her big brown eyes, so full of compassion and understanding. 

_“So...you’re not just completely disgusted and embarrassed by me? Or mad that I puked all over you and probably ruined your dress?”_ he stammered, his voice small and weak. 

Lucy had never seen Tim so vulnerable before. But it broke her heart. 

_“Ok. Let’s get a few things straight. First, I could never be disgusted by you. Or mad at you. Well actually, I could be mad at you. But not for this. Second, mydress will wash, my sandals can be cleaned, and I have a spare outfit in the back, it’s not a big deal. And lastly, there is no world in which I could or would ever be embarrassed by you. It’s impossible. There will never be any scenario that you would embarrass me, ok?”_

Tim just stared out the window. 

_“C’mon babe. Please talk to me. At least look at me.”_

Tim finally really looked at Lucy for the first time since the “incident.” He still didn’t say a word

_“I guess the hot air balloon ride and bus tour around the lake are gonna be awkward, huh?”_ Lucy smiled. 

_“You’re sure you’re not mad?”_ Tim mumbled softly, his eyes a mix of petrified and remorseful. 

_“Of course I’m sure. Since when is Tim Bradford, certified badass, this insecure about anything?”_ she chuckled. 

An overwhelming sadness overtook Tim’s face. He took a deep breath.

_“When I was 12, I got a bad stomach bug and long story short, I ended up puking my guts up all over the living room floor at one point. So my dad scolded me right then and there. Told me how embarrassing I was. How disgusting I was. He was mad as hell. And I guess I was worried that that’s how you would feel too.”_

Lucy’s entire heart shattered. She was focused on the road, but she glanced over at Tim and saw a few tears welled in his eyes. Tears rolled down her cheeks.

Tim had told her about his dad a little bit when he gave her that pep talk after her kidnapping, but he’d never really, truly opened up about it like he just did and she doubted he had to anyone else either. Not even Angela.

_“Oh Tim. That’s awful. I’m so sorry that happened. But listen to me. I’m not mad. I’d never get mad at you for something like this. And while yes, getting puked on was admittedly kind of disgusting, you aren’t. That’s impossible. Someone as cute as you could never be disgusting. And you’re absolutely not embarrassing. You hear me?”_

Tim nodded sheepishly. 

_“Did I ever tell you about the time a few months before my kidnapping when John, Jackson, and I went out for drinks after a particularly long couple of shifts? Actually, it was right after we spent the night in the quarantine house, after I was sure you weren’t going to try to die on me again. Anyways, we went out for drinks, and I was just trying to let loose a bit after everything we had just been through, and apparently I temporarily forgot my threshold for tequila consumption and had a few too many. John and Jackson cut me off, but not soon enough. They barely got me out of the bar and into Jackson’s car before it hit me and I puked. Everywhere. On John. On Jackson. In John’s truck. You name it, I probably puked on it.”_ she laughed, her cheeks scorching and fiery red. 

Tim burst out laughing. 

_“Yeah. Definitely not my finest moment.”_ Lucy chuckled as they continued the drive back to the cabin. 

  
  


**A few hours later:**

Tim and Lucy had considered cancelling their bus tour and hot air balloon reservations after everything that had happened on the sightseeing cruise, but Lucy had convinced Tim to at least go on the bus tour, since he didn’t seem to get motion sickness in cars, and then they could decide on the hot air balloon ride later. 

The bus tour was beautiful, with breathtaking views of the lake and Emerald Bay, stops at a place called Inspiration Point and Eagle Falls. Lucy and Tim took some selfies together (despite Tim’s protests), and a very friendly couple they met took a few proper photos of them. 

Then the bus dropped them back off to the parking lot where they had left their car around 4:45 and they hurried back to the cabin to get ready for their 5:30 dinner reservations. 

_“We’re really going to be pushing it. Good thing you’re trained in high speed driving boot.”_ Tim teased as Lucy pressed harder on the gas pedal. She wouldn’t go any more than 5-10 mph over the posted speed limit though. 

They pulled up to the cabin a short while later and hurried in to get ready for dinner. 

Tim was ready first, but only because Lucy had insisted on taking a quick shower. 

He sat in the bedroom growing more impatient by the second. 

_“C’MON LUCE! WE’RE GONNA BE LATE! HURRY UP!”_ he shouted. 

_“Just...give me a few more minutes. I’ve just got to finish my makeup. Oh. Would you grab my dress from the closet please?”_

He grabbed his crutches and made his way to the closet. 

Lucy peered out the bathroom door trying to catch a glimpse of what Tim was wearing as he walked past. A small smile lit up her face as she bit her lip.

He was wearing the grey suit she had only seen him wear once, for a court appearance, except this time, he had shed the jacket for a more casual look. 

_“Like what you see?”_ Tim asked, as he grabbed her dress off its hanger. 

Lucy jumped before quickly diverting her eyes. 

_“What? Um...wh...what do you mean?”_ she nervously exclaimed. 

_“Seriously Lucy? I’m not an idiot. And you’re about as subtle as tailing a car in a black and white.”_ Tim chuckled.

_“I mean, obviously I liked what I saw. That’s a given. Valerie was right. You sure can wear a suit!”_ She grinned cheekily.

_“Damn straight I can.”_ Tim gruffly responded, now standing right next to her planting small, soft kisses all over her neck. 

Her whole face lit up and she giggled as his lips slowly moved over her neck. 

_“Now…”_ Lucy began breathlessly between Tim’s kisses, _“Unless you want us to be late for dinner...I need to get dressed.”_ she whispered. 

He handed her the dress he had just pulled out of the closet and she carefully slipped it on. Tim’s jaw dropped. 

The dress was gorgeous: merlot-colored, off the shoulder, high-low. Lucy looked absolutely stunningly, radiant in it. She was breath-taking. 

Tim looked her up and down a few times. Her soft, lush brown hair, accented by a twisted crown braid, fell in loose curls, perfectly framing her face and her makeup was absolutely flawless.

Lucy noticed Tim and rolled her eyes. 

_“Wanna pick your jaw up off the ground there?”_ she teased. _“C’mon. We’ve got to go.”_ she said, grabbing her heels off the bed and dropping them to the floor in front of her. 

She slipped on her heels and they headed to dinner. 

The restaurant was beautiful. It overlooked the lake and had breathtaking views all around. 

Tim ordered a steak that he swore just absolutely melted in his mouth (which Lucy confirmed after stealing a bite when she thought he wasn’t looking). She had an absolutely exquisite vegetable linguine. 

They ended with a decadent creme brûlée for dessert and then headed out for their hot air balloon ride to end the absolutely perfect night. 

The views from the balloon were absolutely magnificent. They could see for miles in every direction and they went up just in time to watch the sunset over the lake before they made their descent back to the ground. 

Lucy didn’t stop talking about their evening all the way back to the cabin, and even when they did get back she still couldn’t stop reminiscing on their night. They changed into their pajamas and crawled into bed, fully exhausted from the incredible day they’d just had. 

_“Could you believe those views up there? And oh my gosh...when the sun started to set...had you ever seen anything so beautiful?”_ Lucy asked dreamily as she tried to fight the sleep threatening to overtake her. 

Tim paused. 

_“Actually, yeah. Yeah I have, but it was like, a thousand times more beautiful.”_ he responded, admiring every single inch of Lucy. 

_“What could have been more beautiful than that hot air balloon ride?”_ Lucy questioned, shocked. 

Tim glanced up and their eyes locked. Tim shook his head. 

_“Not what…”_ he began, moving closer before gently grabbing her hand and softly kissing it, _“...who.”_ he whispered, kissing her hand once more before beginning to work his way up to her cheek, leaving a trail of kisses up her arm and on her shoulder. 

_“You’re breathtaking Lucy. You really are. You were staring out at the lake and mountains and sunset, but all I could do was stare at you.”_ he admitted. 

Lucy’s eyes glistened with tears, her lip trembled. Without saying a word, she curled into Tim, snuggling the front of her body against his, completely wrapped in his warmth. She rested her head just below his chin, her warm, sleepy, soft brown eyes gazing up at him. 

_“You really mean that?”_ she asked softly. 

He nodded and tenderly kissed the top of her head, before gently resting his head on hers. 

_“Without a doubt in my mind Lucy.”_ he whispered, wrapping her in his embrace, pulling her as close as he could. 

Lucy drifted off peacefully to sleep, fully engulfed in Tim’s warmth and surrounded by the tender safety of his arms around her.

Tim laid there silently, holding Lucy, the woman he loved with every fiber of his being, reflecting on how absolutely, truly, wildly happy she made him and how incredibly fortunate he was to have Lucy Chen in his life. He laid there watching her sleep, taking it all in, before finally allowing himself to give into the sleep that had been slowly overcoming him. His eyes drifted shut as he pulled Lucy as close as he could, thinking about tomorrow.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what do you think is going to happen tomorrow that Tim is thinking about? How’d you like this chapter? What was your favorite part? 
> 
> I’m probably going to post another chapter or two of the final three remaining, this weekend. Who knows, maybe I’ll just post all three! 
> 
> Also, random question. I’m working on another fic right now and I’m stuck. So, here’s the question, what do you think Tim and Lucy would do while quarantining together (keep in mind in my fic they’re still T.O/Rookie and it’s completely separate from this one!)? If you’ve got any ideas leave them in the comments and they might end up in my story!!
> 
> Finally, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Fee free to leave feedback/comments if you’d like! Thanks for reading!!


	15. The First Weekend (Part 3)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s Tim and Lucy’s last day of their first weekend away together!! Lucy tries to make breakfast and it doesn’t end so well!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s getting down to the last 3 chapters!! After this is posted there’s only 2 more!! Anyways, this is just a cute, fun kind of short chapter! Enjoy! 
> 
> (Also, if you have any Chenford quarantine ideas (see note at end of last chapter) please feel free to share them! I’m still trying to come up with ideas for the Tim/Lucy quarantine fic I’m writing!!)

**Chapter 15: The First Weekend (Part 3):**

Tim slowly woke up. 

_“Mmmh. Morning Luce.”_ he mumbled, his voice still heavy with sleep. 

_“Lucy?”_ he muttered, now realizing she was no longer in the bed, or even the room. 

He was about to call out to her in whatever room she happened to be in, when a shrill shriek shattered the silence. 

Tim shot up, grabbing for his crutches and gun, before bolting out of the bed and towards the sound of Lucy’s scream.

When he made it out to where she was, he snorted, trying not to burst out laughing. He smirked.

_“So. What exactly happened here?”_ he asked, amused. 

It looked like the time he had a bomb squad buddy rig a flour “bomb” for Lucy to find, only about ten times better. 

The counter, floor, cabinets, everything in Lucy’s immediate vicinity was coated in flour. 

And then there was Lucy, standing amid it all, covered from head to toe, front AND back, in it. She looked like she was either about to burst into tears or laughter, but he couldn’t tell which. 

She turned when she heard his voice. 

_“I was trying to make homemade cinnamon rolls!”_ she cackled in a high-pitched voice, before doubling over, giggling. 

_“And what? The bag of flour spontaneously exploded? Please, tell me how you managed to get flour ON THE CEILING!”_ he chuckled. 

_“Uh...I might have had my earbuds in, listening to my music and my favorite song may or may not have come on and I might have possibly started dancing around a little and knocked the bag of flour off the counter and it just kind of exploded a little.”_ she smiled sheepishly. 

_“Well, let me help you clean it up!”_ he grinned, grabbing a handful of flour from the counter and tossing it at her. 

Lucy squealed before reciprocating and tossing some back at him, hitting him squarely in the face, effectively coating it in flour. 

_“Oh. You’re gonna pay for that Boot.”_ Tim exclaimed. 

It erupted into a full-blown flour fight, the two of them tossing handful after handful of flour back and forth at each other, their collective laughter and shrieks and shouts filling the entire cabin. They were like two kids having a snowball fight. 

It ended when Tim hit a patch of flour with his crutches and wiped out hard. 

_“OH MY GOD! TIM!! ARE YOU OK???”_ Lucy rushed over to check on him.

Tim groaned, pulling himself up so he was sitting on the ground instead of laying flat on his back. 

_“Yeah. Yeah. I’m fine…I’ll be fine.”_ he grumbled, reaching a hand up towards Lucy. 

She grabbed for his hand to help him up, but instead he yanked on her arm, causing her to tumble to the ground too, landing nearly on top of him. 

_“What..why’d you do that? I thought you wanted me to help you up! What the hell?”_ she snapped at him. 

Wordlessly, he reached up and rubbed his thumb over her lips, wiping off the flour still coating them, before sliding his other hand through her hair and pulling her in for a long, passionate kiss. 

They spent the next 10 minutes on the floor alternating between fits of laughter and showering each other in kisses. 

_“Ok. Well, since homemade cinnamon rolls clearly aren’t happening, we should probably get this mess cleaned up and go find somewhere to get breakfast.”_ Lucy sighed, pushing herself up and off the ground. 

Tim outstretched his hand again. Lucy rolled her eyes. 

_“Yeah. You’re not gonna get me again. You can get up by yourself. I believe in you!”_ she smirked, before finally giving in and helping him up. 

They quickly cleaned up all the flour, which, thanks to their earlier flour fight, was now spread across the kitchen and into the living room, and hopped in the shower to rinse off before venturing out to get breakfast. 

Tim, knowing Lucy wanted cinnamon rolls, hunted down a small bakery that sold gourmet cinnamon rolls and suggested they go there. 

Lucy devoured 2 and a half of the warm, gooey, delicious rolls. 

_“Mmm! Oh my god. These are THE best cinnamon rolls I’ve ever had”_ she raved.

Tim took another big bite of his roll, nodding in agreement. 

_“Oh! Tim! Did you still want to take me to that waterfall? I’m trying to decide how soon we should head home, since we both have to be back for work tomorrow morning.”_

Tim choked on a bite of his cinnamon roll as he started to reply. 

_“Uh. Yeah. I’ve um…heard it’s a must see when visiting Lake Tahoe. I think it would be a great way to end our trip!”_ he answered. 

_“Ok! So maybe we could go back to the cabin and get stuff packed and loaded in the car and then go see it on our way out.”_ she proposed. 

Tim and Lucy finished their breakfast, grabbed a box of cinnamon rolls to take back to Jackson to thank him for watching Kojo, and headed back to the cabin to pack up and head out. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this chapter!! I absolutely loved the flour bomb scene (or whatever it actually was) in the Season 2 premiere, so I thought the flour explosion and flour fight would be kind of a cute thing between Tim and Lucy, but idk. It just seemed fun at the time I wrote it and I really hope it was as cute as I thought it was! Also, big moment coming up in the next chapter!! I think you all are going to really love it! I’m planning to post that chapter and the last chapter pretty soon, because I have a Chenford Christmas fic I wrote that I want to get posted soon! (And yes I’m currently writing like 4 different fics at the same time lol!) 
> 
> I hope you’ve enjoyed this and enjoy the last few chapters! Feel free to leave comments/feedback if you want!


	16. The Waterfall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tim and Lucy visit a waterfall before they head home and someone has a huge surprise!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Big chapter ahead!!! I really hope you all enjoy it!!

**Chapter 16: The Waterfall**

They left the cabin around 12:30 and arrived at the trail to the waterfall 15 minutes later.

_ “Are you sure you’re ok to hike this on your crutches?”  _ Lucy looked at Tim worriedly. 

_ “Yeah. I’ll make it. It’s only like a quarter mile anyways.”  _ Tim assured her. 

A short while later they were standing at the waterfall, quietly admiring its magnificent splendor and grandeur. 

_ “Wow! You were right babe! This is the perfect end to our weekend! It’s absolutely breathtaking! Is this even…” _ she froze as she turned to face Tim. A small gasp escaped as her hands flew over her mouth in shock. 

_ “Oh my god!” _ she squealed,  _ “Tim...I...I…”  _ she had no idea how to respond as a huge, radiant smile spread across her face and tears welled up and began to spill out of her glimmering, awestruck eyes. 

Tim had carefully gotten down on one knee, cast and all. He was smiling wider than Lucy had ever seen him smile as he fought back the tears glistening in his eyes. 

The ring sparkled and glistened in the sun. It was stunning, with a three stone trellis featuring what Lucy could only guess was about a one and a half carat diamond, nestled between 2 smaller, probably half carat diamonds, all jaw-droppingly accented with a pave setting, with tiny diamonds wrapping half way around either side of the dazzling white-gold band. It was simple yet absolutely breathtaking. 

_ “Lucy...”  _ Tim choked softly, flicking tears from his eyes, as he tried to keep his emotions at bay. His voice cracked as he began to speak. 

_ “Lucy, I know we’ve only been dating for a couple months, but they’ve been the best months of my life. After everything with Isabel, the drugs, and eventually the divorce, I was sure I didn’t ever want to get married again. But then you happened. At first, you were just another rookie, and then one day you weren’t. You were just Lucy. And I had never met anyone like you. You were kind, strong, smart, fierce, confident, not to mention, so mesmerizingly, enchantingly beautiful and before I even realized what was happening, I was falling absolutely, madly in love with you. And at first, I tried to push that away, tried to fight how I felt about you. But one day, I just couldn’t fight it anymore. That night at the bar. When we kissed for the first time. That’s when I knew. That’s when I knew that you were the one. That you were the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with. I have never loved anyone as much as I love you, Lucy. Not even Isabel. So Lucy Chen, will you make me the happiest man in the universe? Will you marry me?”  _

With tears running down her cheeks, a radiant smile on her face, and eyes sparkling, Lucy nodded her head. 

_ “Yes! Absolutely yes. Of course I will marry yoI! I will marry the hell out of you Tim Bradford!!” _ she half giggled, half cried in response, before running into his arms.

Tim braced himself on his crutches as Lucy rushed over to him. A few tears dripped down his face as he held her in his arms and they exchanged kisses. 

Lucy pulled away slightly, grabbed the ring and slid it on her finger. 

_ “Oh my god, Tim, it’s gorgeous! I can’t believe this is actually happening!”  _ she whispered. 

Tim looked her in the eyes, a soft smile on his face. 

_ “Well believe it baby, because it’s Chenford for life now!” _ he grinned. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you see that coming? What do you think? How are you feeling about Chenford for life? I’ve got the final chapter ready to be posted either tonight or tomorrow morning! After that I’m going to probably post the Chenford Christmas fic I wrote! It’s a multi-chapter (like maybe 5 chapters total), but I’ll probably post all at once! I’m the meantime, I hope you enjoy the last two chapters of this fic!! Thank you all so much for reading this far and for all the comments and kudos!!


	17. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tim and Lucy get back from their trip and they tell their friends the big news!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s here! The final chapter of my first fanfic! I hope you all have enjoyed it and I hope you enjoy this last chapter!!

**Chapter 17: Epilogue**

Tim and Lucy got back to L.A late, so Tim stayed over at Lucy and Jackson’s for the night. 

Cojo pounced on them both the second they walked through the door, letting out a loud, excited yelp, effectively waking up Jackson.

Jackson was startled awake, before realizing it must be Lucy getting back from her trip. He tiredly drug himself out of bed and trudged out to the living room, where he found not only Lucy, but Tim too. 

_“Hey Jackson! Sorry, we didn’t mean to wake you up! We tried to sneak in, but Cojo here wasn’t having any of that!”_ she laughed, motioning over to Cojo, unintentionally revealing the engagement ring now on her left hand. 

Jackson immediately noticed and did a second take. His jaw dropped. 

_“I’m sorry? But...um...what is that?Is that a ring I see? What haven’t you told me yet Lucy?_ he exclaimed. 

Lucy’s face immediately fell. 

_“Oh no! You weren’t supposed to find out yet!”_ she cried out _“We were going to do a whole dinner thing after shift tomorrow and tell everybody. But, it’s ok. Just don’t tell anybody yet, ok?”_ Lucy said. 

Jackson nodded 

_“Yeah. Yeah, of course! I’m so happy for you guys. I’m gonna need you to tell me all about it!”_ he replied. 

_“Yeah, obviously! But, not tonight. We’ve got an early shift tomorrow, and I’m exhausted from the drive.”_ Lucy yawned. 

**Morning:**

It was 5:30 a.m when Tim and Lucy woke up for work. Lucy rolled over to face Tim. 

_“Good morning, Fiancé!”_ she grinned widely. 

_“Mmmh. Good Morning to you too, Fiancée!”_ Tim smiled back at her, before softly kissing her lips. 

_“We should probably get up and get ready.”_ Lucy whispered _“I’ve got to text Angela and Nyla and John about dinner tonight before we leave too.”_ she told him. 

_“You could text them from bed. It’s going to be a long day. We could just spend a few more minutes laying here.”_ Tim mumbled. 

Lucy rolled her eyes and reached for her phone. 

She opened her texts and looked for the group message she had jokingly named _Mid-Wilshire Work Squad:The Super Sleuths_ and quickly typed out a text: 

**_Anyone up for dinner and drinks after shift tonight? Las Torres?_ **

She set her phone down and flipped back in the bed, her head accidentally slamming directly into Tim’s chest. 

_“Ooof! GEEZ LUCY!”_ Tim shouted in pain. 

Lucy stifled her laughter. 

_“I’m so sorry!”_ she giggled _“I guess that kind of puts an end to the few more minutes of just lying here, huh?”_ she looked up at him sheepishly. 

_“No. It’s fine. We probably need to get up at this point anyways.”_

They got dressed and got ready to head to work. Tim slipped out to the kitchen to make coffee and get some breakfast while Lucy finished getting ready and picking an outfit to toss in her bag for dinner after work. 

She decided on a cute pair of leggings, a spare plain white t-shirt, her favorite blazer, and her favorite suede ankle boots. 

Before she went out to meet Tim in the kitchen, she slid the sparkling ring off her finger, placed it carefully back in its box, tucked it in one of her bag’s inside compartments, zipped the bag, and slung it over her shoulder. 

It was 6:15 when she walked out to the kitchen. 

Tim handed her coffee in her favorite mug, the pink one with _Good Morning Sunshine_ etched on either side, the one Jackson had bought her to tease her about how much of a morning person she isn’t. 

He was sitting at the counter with a mug in his hand too. She saw him search her hand for the ring as soon as she walked out. 

_“Ok. How out of it was I last night? Because I could’ve sworn you had a ring on that hand.”_ he deadpanned, knowing exactly why she wasn’t wearing it. 

  
  


_“Uh. No. Tim and I are_ **_definitely_ ** _engaged. But, Angela, John, Nyla and Grey still don’t know, so...until dinner tonight...my new bling has to stay hidden!”_ she said, stealing glances of Tim a few times as she spoke. 

The ding of her phone suddenly jolted her from the trance looking at Tim seemed to put her in. It dinged a few more times. She picked up her phone. It was Angela, John, and Nyla. 

**_Angela (6:27 a.m): Sounds good! Wes and I will be there!_ **

**_Nyla (6:28 a.m): Let me see if Donavan can take Lilah for the night and I’ll let you know._ **

**_John (6:28 a.m): Count me in!_ **

**_Nyla(6:33 a.m): Lilah duty is covered. I’ll stop by for a bit._ **

**_Jackson (6:35 a.m): Count me in too! Round of drinks on me tonight!_ **

Lucy glared at Jackson. 

_“What? If I didn’t respond, they’d suspect something!”_ he shrugged at her. 

She dramatically rolled her eyes and let out a long sigh. 

“ _C’mon. We’ve got to get going or we’ll be late.”_ she shook her head, grabbing the keys, before grinning back at Jackson. 

**Roll Call:**

_“So how was the trip Bradford?”_ Angela and Nyla both ambushed him before he could even get settled in his seat. 

He shrugged, crossed his arms and leaned back. 

_“It was fine. Except for all the sightseeing tours Lucy dragged me on. You wouldn’t believe how many different ways there are to see ONE lake.”_

Lucy, Jackson, and John sat a couple rows ahead of their former T.Os. Close enough for Lucy to hear Tim’s discussion. 

She whipped her head around. 

_“Don’t you even dare! You know you had fun. Don’t make me tell them what happened on the cruise!”_ she smirked. 

Angela and Nyla’s faces lit up. 

_“Oooooh! Now you’ve piqued our interest, so you have to tell us!”_ Angela prodded Lucy for more details. 

_“Nah. Tim swore me to secrecy. Maybe he’ll let me tell you about it someday though. It’s a great story!”_ Lucy glanced at Tim to gauge his reactions to make sure she hadn’t taken anything too far, knowing how delicate of a subject this truly was. 

She sighed in relief when she saw Tim laughing right along with the rest of them. 

_“All right. All right! Everybody settle down. Settle down!”_ Sergeant Grey’s voice boomed through the room, indicating the start of their morning briefing. 

After roll call, everyone went their separate ways. Tim headed to the front desk, Jackson and Lucy headed out on patrol together, Angela and Nyla partnered up for the day, and Nolan was riding solo. 

The day started out slow, but sped up after lunch. 

A few hours later, shift was getting ready to end and everyone made their way back to the station, clocked out, and headed to dinner. 

Everybody finished their dinner and Jackson ordered a round of drinks for everyone, as promised. 

Tim and Lucy looked at each other before standing up. 

Lucy discreetly slipped the ring on her finger before draping her arm across Tim’s back, to hide it. 

_“So. Tim and I have something we want to tell you. It’s really, mostly why we invited you to dinner tonight. Well, this and because we wanted to bore you with all the details of our trip!”_ Lucy began, chuckling. 

_“Well. Spit it out boot!”_ Nyla teased. 

_“Ok. Um...Tim? Do you wanna tell them or should I?”_ she grinned as she kept the group in suspense just a little longer. 

_“My god Lucy. You’re going to give me a heart attack with this suspense. Just tell us already!”_ John chimed in. 

At the same time Tim and Lucy took a deep breath and then finally revealed their news to the group. 

_“We...ARE GETTING MARRIED!”_ they finally told everyone, as Lucy pulled her hand out from behind Tim, revealing her ring. 

Angela immediately jumped out of her seat, ecstatic for two of her best friends. 

_“OH MY GOD! CONGRATULATIONS YOU TWO!!”_ she screamed. 

_“Fair warning though, I’m going wedding cake tasting with you, ok? Because that was the best part when I got married.”_ she added. 

Wesley teasingly glared at her. 

_I’m kidding. I’m kidding!”_ Angela playfully defended herself, before Wesley offered his congratulations to Tim and Lucy. 

_“Congratulations! You two make a beautiful couple. I can’t wait for the wedding! And you should definitely plan on Angela tagging along on your cake sampling, because she was 100% serious about that!”_ he told them, before Nyla chimed in. 

_“I traded a night with Lilah for this?”_ Nyla asked sarcastically, before a wide smile grew across her face _“Nah. I’m just playing! Congratulations! I’m so happy for you guys!”_

_“I CAN’T BELIEVE IT! MY BEST FRIEND IS GETTING MARRIED! CONGRATULATIONS!”_ Jackson exclaimed, as if he didn’t already know. 

John had several different emotions running through his head, after all he too, had loved Lucy at one point. But in the end he couldn’t help but be thrilled for Tim and Lucy. 

_“Awww! You guys! I’m so happy for you two. Congratulations! Lucy, you’re going to make a beautiful bride. And Tim...you’re going to make a...groom? And I get to be your best man, right?”_ he laughed nervously. 

Tim scowled at him before the entire table erupted in laughter, tears, and more congratulations. Angela and Wesley bought a few celebratory rounds of drinks, followed by Nyla buying a round, and then finally John. 

They continued their celebration just a little while longer before deciding to call it a night since they all had work in the morning. 

Everybody gave their final congratulations to Tim and Lucy before parting ways for the night. 

Tim and Lucy went back to Tim’s house and curled up in bed together. 

They were so content. They were blessed with best friends ever, who were over the moon for them and their engagement, and they were about to start the rest of their lives together soon.” 

_“I love you Tim.”_ Lucy whispered. 

_“I love you too Lucy. God, I love you so much.”_ Tim whispered softly back.

The two of them drifted off in each other's arms, their future together filling their dreams. They had each other forever now, and that’s all they needed. 

  
  


#  THE END

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for reading this! I can’t believe I’ve finished posting my first fanfic! I had loads of fun writing this and I love reading all your incredible, kind, awesome comments and feedback!! Stay tuned, I’m going to be posting a Chenford Christmas fic soon (probably tonight or tomorrow!!) I hope you enjoyed the last chapter (and all the chapters!!)


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